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Uniform with the " CHARLES DICKENS EDITION^ and 
a Suppleynentary volume to the Author s works. This day, nearly 
/\oo pages, price 3^. 6d. 

THE SPEECHES 



CFIARLES DICKENS. 

NOW FIRST COLLECTED, 

WITH 

PORTRAIT FROM THE BEST PHOTOGRAPH EXTANT. 

" As the deliverer of what the French would call ' a speech of occa- 
sion,' no one is more happy."— Percy Fitzgerald, 

His capital Speeches, every one of them reads like a page of 



:apita 



Pickwick.lt' — The Critic, 



London : John Camden Hotten. 74 and 75, Piccadilly. 



> 



CHARLES DICKENS 



THE STORY OF HIS LIFE. 



LONDON . 

printed by woodfall and ktndsb, 
m;i.ford lane, strand, w.c 



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) 



Charles Dickens 



Cbt Stnrn of Ijis iCifc 



AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF THACKERAY" 




BLEAK HOUSE, AT BKOADST 



(T H I R I^ E >J I T I O N ) 



LONDON 

JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, PICCADILLY 



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' Oh, potent wizard ! painter of great skill 

Blending with life's realities the hues 

Of a rich fancy : sweetest of all singers ! 
Charming the public ear, and, at thy will, 

Searching the soul of him thou dost amuse, 

And the warm heart's recess, where mem'ry lingers. 
And child-like love, and sympathy, and truth. 

And every blessed feeling which the world 

Had frozen or repressed with its stem apathy 
For human suffering ! ' Crabbed age and youth,' 

And beauty, smiling tearful, turn to thee, 
Whose ' Carol ' is an allegory fine. 
The burden of whose ' Chimes ' is holy and benigfn ! " 

Douglas Jerrold's Magazine. 




ROCHESTER CASTL 

{As SUM from the Railviay EridgtJ^i 




IJjJIJjgHE following brief Memoir of the late Mr. 
Charles Dickens may, perhaps, be accept- 
able as filling an intermediate place between 
the newspaper or review article and the more elabo- 
rate biography which may be expected in due 
course. The writer had some peculiar means of 
acquiring information for the purpose of his sketch ; 
and to this he has added such particulars as have 
been already made public in English and foreign 
publications and other scattered sources. 

The common complaints against memoirs of this 
necessarily hasty and incomplete character will not 
be repeated by those who are accustomed to test 
questions in morals by the principles which underlie 
them. That there is nothing necessarily indelicate 
or improper in the desire of the public to obtain 
some personal knowledge of the great and good who 
have just passed away, is assumed by every daily, 
weekly, and quarterly journal, which, on occasions 



X PRELIMINARY. 

of this kind, furnish their readers with such details 
as they are able to obtain, and who in no case 
confine themselves strictly to the public career of the 
deceased. 

Although some facts in the private life of Mr. 
Dickens will be found to be touched upon in these 
pages, the writer is not conscious of having written a 
line which could give pain to others. 

In view of a second edition — should one be called 
for — the writer will be obliged by the receipt of any 
additional particulars which may assist in completing 
the outline memoir which now leaves his hand. 

He cannot, however, conclude without acknowledg- 
ing the kind assistance he has received in furnishing 
anecdotes and other particulars from Mr, Arthur 
Locker, Mr. E. S. Dallas, Mr. Blanchard Jerrold, Mr. 
James Grant, Dr. Charles Mackay, Mr. Mitchell, of 
Bond St. (for permission to make reductions of Leslie's 
beautiful picture, and Count D'Orsay's characteristic 
portrait), Mr. Edmund Oilier, Mr. E. P. Kingston, 
Mr. Allen, Mr. J. Colam (Secretary to the Society 
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), the writers 
of interesting articles in the Daily News and the 
Observer y and to Mr. Hablot K. Browne, for his 
admirable study of the chief characters drawn by 
him for the late Mr. Dickens's works. 



1^) 



PRELIMINARY. xi 

It would have been impossible to have given the 
data contained in this little book, in the rather short 
time occupied in its preparation, but for the hearty- 
assistance of Mr. H. T. Taverner, an industrious 
litt^rateury who had already gathered some particulars 
of the great novelist's public career. 

London, 

29//i ymie, 1870. 



f 



A TRIBUTE 

• TO 

CHARLES DICKENS. 

By the Hon. Mrs. Norton. 
{Froya Albert Schloss's ''English Bijou Almanack" for 1849.) 

"Not merely thine the tribute praise, 

Which greets an author's progress here ; 
Not merely thine the fabled bays, 

Whose verdure brightens his career ; 
Thine the pure triumph to have taught 

Thy brother man a gentle part ; 
In every line a fervent thought, 

Which gushes from thy generous heart : 
For thine are words which rouse up all 

The dormant good among us found — 
Like drops which from a fountain fall, 

To bless and fertilize the ground I " 

m 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

rAGP 
Early Career • » , , 17 

CHAPTER n. 
Publication OF THE "Pickwick Papers" 38 

CHAPTER HI. 
Popularity of the "Pickwick Papers" 55 

CHAPTER IV. 

Dickens as a Dramatist .65 

"Oliver Twist" 69 

CHAPTER V. 
The Copyright of "Oliver Twist" 76 

CHAPTER VI. 
"Nicholas Nickleby" 83 

CHAPTER VII. 
Publication of "The Old Curiosity Shop" and " Barnaby 

Rudge" 92 

Dickens's Ravens 97, 

"Barnaby Rudge" Dramatized loi 

"The Pic-nic Papers" 103 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Dickens's Visit to America 105 



J^ I 



MV CONTENTS, 

CHAPTER IX. 

PAOB 

Further American Experiences ....•• 119 

CHAPTER X. 
"Martin Chuzzlewit" 129 

CHAPTER XL 
The "Christmas Carol" 138 

CHAPTER Xn. 

Visit to Italy 150 

"The Chimes" . 152 

CHAPTER XT IT. 
Dickens as an Actor . .158 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Dickens as a Journalist ........ 164 

CHAPTER XV. 
Appearance of "Dombey and Son" 170 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Victor Hugo 178 

" The Haunted Man " 181 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Dickens and Thackeray 185 

"David Copperfield" icj 

On Capital Punishment . . . . ^ . . .191 

CHAPTER XVI 1 1. 

" Household Words " . .195 

The Guild of Literature 201 

CHAPTER XIX. 

"Bleak House" 206 

Leigh Hunt . 209 

CHAPTER XX. 

American Publisiieks 215 

The First Reading 218 



CONTENTS. XV 
CHAPTER XXI. 

PACE 

'Hard Times" 221 

"Seven Poor Travellers" 223 

The Thackeray Dinner 225 

Johnson's God-daughte:; 227 

"Holly Tree Inn" 228 

CHAPTER XXII. 

"Little Dorrit" 230 

"Travelling Abroad" 233 

Tavistock House Theatricals 234 

CHAPTER XXni. 

Works Translated into Frenxh 240 

Dickens and Thackeray 242 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Royal Dramatic College . 252 

Discontinuance of " Household Words " .... 254 

"All the Year Round" 236 

CHAPTER XXV. 

•• The Uncommercial Traveller "..,.., 262 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Mr. Dickens and the Electors of FiNSpr-nv .... 266 

"Tom Tiddler's Ground" . . . . . . . . 267 

"Somebody's Luggage" 270 

"Mrs. Ltrriper's Lgdcngs" . 273 

"Pincher" ; . . 275 

CHAPTER XXVH 

"Our Mutual Friend" 279 

The Staplehurst Accident 283 

"Miss Berwick" 285 

" Dk. Marigold's Prescriptions"' 287 

Dickens at the Mansion House 289 

Clarkson Stanfield 291 

The Printers' Readers . . 292 

CHAPTER XXVIII, 

Second Visit to America 294 

Pedestrian Tastes 305 



rvi 



CONTENTS. 



' CHAPTER XXIX. 

r^ PAGn 

The Farewell Readings 310 

Failing Health 313 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Interview with the Queen 323 

Last Illness 327 

Death 328 

Burial in Westminster Abbey 332 

Funeral Sermon 337 

His Last Resting-place 339 

APPENDIX. 
.anecdotes and reminiscences. 

The First Hint of "Pickwick" 341 

Dickens AND the " Morning Chronicle " .... 344 

Portraits of Dickens 345 

The Names of Dickens's Characters 346 

Description of "Boz" in 1844 . 347 

Description of D/ckens in 1852 348 

Boz's Table Habits 349 

The MS. of "Oliver Twist" 349 

Dickens's Benevolence 350 

Hook and Dickens 350 

Methodical Habits and Perse^terance 351 

Manner of Literary Composition 353 

"The Chief" 354 

Blue Ink 355 

Dickens in Private Life . . 355 

Sympathy with Working Men 357 

A Beggar's Estimate of his Generosity 357 

Paragraph Disease 357 

Dickens and Thackeray 538 

Anecdote of Abraham Lincoln 360 

The Contributors to "Household Words" .... 361 

"The Mystery of Edwin Drood" 362 

Gad's Hill House 365 

"All the Year Round" 366 



^ 




CHARLES DICKENS 

THE STORY OF HIS LIFE. 



CHAPTER L 

EARLY CAREER. 

HE " Story of the Life " of England's greatest 
novelist requires but little introduction. 
Of his ancestors but few particulars are 
recorded, and these are entirely without interest 
as having any connection with the late illustrious 
bearer of the name. 

Charles Dickens * was born at Landport, Ports- 
mouth, on the 7th February, 1812, his father, Mr. 
John Dickens, being a clerk in the Navy Pay Office 
at that seaport. His duties required that he should 
reside from time to time in different naval stations — 

* He was christened Charles John Hougham Dickens, but 
the full name (taken partly from the father and partly from his 
mother's side) was too high-sounding for his simple tastes, and 
so he never used it, preferring the plainer form. He once re- 
marked, that had he been a fashionable doctor, he might have 
thought differently about the matter. 

B 



i8 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1819-22 

now at Plymouth, now at Portsmouth, and then at 
Sheerness and Chatham. " In the glorious days " 
of war with France those towns were full of life, 
bustle, and character, and the father of the author 
of " Pickwick " was at times fond of dilating 
upon the strange scenes he had witnessed. One of 
the stories described a sitting-room he once enjoyed 
at Blue Town, Sheerness, abutting on the Theatre. 
Of an evening he used to sit in his room and could 
hear what was passing on the stage, and join in the 
chorus of " God save the King " and " Britannia 
Rules the Waves " — then the favourite song of Eng- 
lishmen. 

On the termination of the war in 1815, a large 
reduction was made in the number of clerks in this 
office, and Mr. Dickens receiving his pension, re- 
moved to London with his wife and seven children. 
Possessing considerable abilities, and unwilling to 
remain idle, he became parliamentary reporter on 
the Morning Chronicle.^ 

Charles remained at home until he v/as seven years 
of age, and was then sent to a private school at 
Chatham, the late Rev. Wm. Giles, F.R.A.S., being 
his instructor. As an evidence of young Dickens's 
kindly disposition, it may be mentioned that, some 
years ago, when such fame as he had acquired would 
cause most men to have forgotten their former old 
associations, Dickens joined some other old scholars 

* The old gentleman died in Keppel Street, Russell Square, 
on 31st March, 1851, aged 65. 



1^ 



1819-28.] EARLY CAREER. 19 

in the presentation of a service of plate to Mr. Giles, 
accompanied by a most gratifying testimonial of 
regard, to which he attached his well-known bold 
autograph. A fellow-scholar, who was at school at 
the same time with Dickens (there being only two 
years difference in their ages), used often to speak of 
the marked geniality of Dickens's character as a boy, 
and of his proficiency in all boyish sports, such as 
cricket, &c. Ultimately he completed his education 
at a good school, in or near London. 

At an early age he commenced to read the 
standard works of the best authors. In the preface 
to "Nicholas Nickleby," speaking of how he first 
heard of the cruelties of the Yorkshire schools, 
he describes himself as being " a not very robust 
child, sitting in bye-places, near Rochester Castle, 
with a head full of Partridge, Strap, Tom Pipes, and 
Sancho Panza." In " David Copperfield " (a book 
one can hardly help fancying is in some respects 
autobiographical), he says (omitting a few words), — 
"From that blessed little room Roderick Random, 
Peregrine Pickle, Humphrey Clinker, Tom Jones, 
the Vicar of Wakefield, Don Quixote, Gil Bias, and 
Robinson Crusoe, came out, a glorious host, to keep 
me company. They kept alive my fancy — they, and 
the ' Arabian Nights,' and the * Tales of the Genii,* 
— and did me no harm ; for whatever harm there was 
in some of them, was not there for me ; / knew 
nothing of it. * * * I have seen Tom Jones (a 
child's Tom Jones, a harmless creature) for a week 



20 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1828-30. 



together. I have sustained my own idea of Roderick 
Random for a month at a stretch, I verily beHeve. 
I had a greedy relish for a few volumes of voyages 
and travels, and for days and days I can remember 
to have gone about my region of our house, armed 
with a centre-piece out of an old set of boot-trees — 
the perfect realization of Captain Somebody, of the 
Royal British Navy, in danger of being beset by 
savages, and resolved to sell his life at a great price. 
The Captain never lost dignity from having his 
ears boxed with the Latin Grammar. I did ; but the 
Captain was a captain and a hero, in despite of all 
the grammars of all the languages in the world, dead 
or alive." 

His career at school having concluded, his father 
was desirous that he should be articled to the law, 
and he entered a solicitor's office for that purpose. 
Dunning (afterwards Lord Ashburton) once said : 
" The study of the law is generally ridiculed as dry 
and uninteresting ; but a mind anxious for the dis- 
covery of truth and information will be amply 
gratified for the toil of -investigating the origin and 
progress of jurisprudence which has the good of the 
people for its basis, and the accumulated wisdom of 
ages for its improvement." But, to young Dickens, 
it was ill calculated to accord with the literary tastes 
he had formed, and thus imbued with the kindred 
feelings of some of his distinguished contemporaries 
— Disraeli, Layard, Harrison Ainsworth, and West- 
land Marston, all of whom passed a portion of their 



1830-32.] EARLY CAREER. 21 

early days at an attorney's desk — he became dis- 
gusted with the tedious routine of the profession, and 
resigning all ideas of propitiating Thetis (the god- 
dess of lawyers), determined to become a reporter like 
his father, who, finding how strong his son's ideas were 
on the subject, wisely placed no obstacle in his path, 
but removed him from his uncongenial employment, 
and placed him with the Messrs. Gurney, the parlia- 
mentary shorthand writers of Abingdon Street, West- 
minster. It is said, that during his probation, and 
whilst practising shorthand writing, Dickens passed 
the leisure hours of some two years in the Library of 
the British Museum. 

The manner in which the difficulties of stenography 
were overcome had best be told in his own words : — 
" I did not allow my resolution with respect to the 
parhamentary debates to cool. It was one of the 
irons I began to heat immediately, and one of the 
irons I kept hot and hammered at with a perseverance 
I may honestly admire. I bought an approved scheme 
of the noble art and mystery of stenography '(which 
cost me ten-and-sixpence),* and plunged into a sea 
of perplexity, that brought me in a few weeks to 
the confines of distraction. The changes that were 
rung upon dots, which in one position meant such a 
thing, and in another position something else entirely 
different ; the wonderful vagaries that were played 
by circles ; the unaccountable consequences that 

• This was " Gurney 's System of Shorthand," the i6th 
edition of which is now selling at the old price, 10/. 6d. 



anr 



22 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. . [1830-52. 

resulted from marks like fly's legs ; the tremendous 
effects from a curve in the wrong place ; not only 
troubled my waking hours, but reappeared before me 
in my sleep. When I had groped my way blindly 
through these difficulties, and had mastered the 
alphabet, which was an Egyptian temple in itself, 
there then appeared a procession of new horrors, 
called arbitrary characters — the most despotic charac- 
ters I had ever known ; who insisted, for instance, 
that the thing like the beginning of a cobweb meant 
expectation, that a pen-and-ink sky-rocket stood for 
disadvantageous. When I had fixed these wretches 
in my mind, I found that they had driven everything 
else out of it ; then, beginning again, I forgot them ; 
while I was picking them up, I dropped the other 
fragments of the system ; in short, it was almost 
heart-breaking." 

Occupying the chair at the second anniversary of 
the Newspaper Press Fund, on 20th May, 1865, and 
referring to his early reporting days, he said : — 

" I went into the gallery of the House of Commons 
as a parliamentary reporter when I v/as a boy not 
eighteen, and I left it — I can hardly believe the in- 
exorable truth — nigh thirty years ago ; and I have 
pursued the calling of a reporter under circumstances 
of which many of my brethren at home in England 
here — many of my brethren's successors — can form 
no adequate conception. I have often transcribed for 
the printer from my shorthand notes important public 
speeches in which the strictest accuracy was required. 



1S30-32O EARLY CAREER. 23 

and a mistake in which would have been to a young 
man severely compromising ; writing on the palm of 
my hand by the light of a dark lantern in a post- 
chaise and four, galloping through a wild country, 
through the dead of the night, at the then surprising 
rate of fifteen miles an hour. The very last time I 
was at Exeter I strolled into the castle-yard there to 
identify, for the amusement of a friend, the spot on 
which I once ' took,' as we used to call it, an election 
speech of my noble friend Lord Russell, in the midst 
of a lively fight maintained by all the vagabonds in 
that division of the county, and under such pelting 
rain, that I remember two good-natured colleagues, 
who chanced to be at leisure, held a pocket-hand- 
kerchief over my note-book after the manner of a 
state canopy in an ecclesiastical procession. I have 
worn my knees by writing on them on the old back 
row of the old gallery of the old House of Commons ; 
and I have worn my feet by standing to write in a 
preposterous pen in the old House of Lords, where 
we used to be huddled like so many sheep kept in 
waiting till the woolsack might want re-stufhng. Re- 
turning home from excited political meetings in the 
country to the waiting press in London, I do verily 
believe I have been upset in almost every description 
of vehicle known in this country. I have been, in 
my time, belated on miry by-roads towards the small 
hours, forty or fifty miles from London, in a rickety 
carriage, with exhausted horses and drunken post- 
boys, and have got back in time before publication. 



T^7/ ,^^ 



24 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS, [1830-32. 

to be received with never-forgotten compliments by- 
Mr. Black, in the broadest of Scotch, coming from 
the broadest of hearts I ever knew. I mention these 
trivial things as an assurance to you that I never 
have forgotten the fascination of that old pursuit. 
The pleasure that I used to feel in the rapidity and 
dexterity of its exercise has never faded out of my 
breast. Whatever little cunning of hand or head I 
took to it, or acquired in it, I have so retained as that 
I fully believe I could resume it to-morrow. To this 
present year of my life, when I sit in this hall, or 
where not, hearing a dull speech — the phenomenon 
does occur — I sometimes beguile the tedium of the 
moment by mentally following the speaker in the old, 
old way ; and sometimes, if you can believe me, I 
even find my hand going on the table-cloth. Accept 
these little truths as a confirmation of what I know, 
as a confirmation of my interest in this old calling. 
I verily believe, I am sure, that if I had never quitted 
my old calling, I should have been foremost and 
zealous in the interest of this institution, believing it 
to be a sound, a wholesome, and a good one." 

" That there was no exaggeration in this state- 
ment," writes a personal friend,* "he proved in the 
course of that very year by giving a series of lessons 
in shorthand to a young man, a connection of his, 
when his fluency and perspicuity were found to be as 
great as ever." To the same writer he once told a 

* In the Observer y 12th June, 1870. 



1832-34.] EARLY CAREER, 25 

curious anecdote of his reporting days : — " The late 
Earl of Derby, then Lord Stanley, had on some 
important occasion made a grand speech in the 
House of Commons. This speech, of immense 
length, it was found necessary to compress, but so 
admirably had its pith and marrow been given in the 
Morning Chronicle, that Lord Stanley sent to the 
office, requesting that the gentleman who had reported 
it would wait upon him at his residence in Carlton- 
House Terrace, that he might then and there take 
down the speech in its entirety from his lordship's 
lips. Lord Stanley being desirous of having a perfect 
transcript of it. The reporter was Charles Dickens. 
He attended, took down the speech, and received 
Lord Stanley's compliments on his work. Many 
years after, Mr. Dickens, dining for the first time with 
a friend in Carlton-House Terrace, found the aspect 
of the dining-room strangely familiar to him, and on 
making inquiries, discovered that the house had 
previously belonged to Lord Derby, and that that 
was the very room in which he had taken down Lord 
Stanley's speech." It is understood that our author 
practised reporting in the Law Courts, before going 
to the Houses of Parliament. 

The first paper he obtained an engagement on was 
The True Sun^ with the managers of which he soon 
became noted for the succinctness of his reports, and 
the judicious, though somewhat ruthless, style with 
which he cut down unnecessary verbiage, displaying 
the substance to the best advantage, and exemplifying 



25 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1833-35. 

the well-known maxim of Perry, the famous chief of 
the Morning Chronicle, that " Speeches cannot be 
made long enough for the speakers, nor short enough 
for the readers^ 

Remaining for a brief period on the staff of The 
True Sun, he seceded to the Mirror of Parliament^ 
which had started with the express object of reporting 
the debates verbatim. Mr. Barrow, Dickens's uncle, 
was the conductor ; its downfall, however, was rapid, 
as it only existed two sessions. 

Through his father's influence he was next securea 
an appointment on the Morning Chronicle, a news- 
paper originally established on Whig principles, by 
Woodfall, in 1769. By a remarkable coincidence, 
three of its chief parliamentary reporters afterwards 
attained to eminent positions. The late Lord Chan- 
cellor Campbell commenced his career on its staff; 
on his resignation William Hazlitt (the celebrated 
essayist) supplied his place, who was in turn suc- 
ceeded by Mr. Charles Dickens. 

Whilst Dickens was reporting for the Morning 
Chronicle, it fell in the way of his duty to go down 
into Devonshire, where Lord John Russell- — who had 
accepted the post of Secretary of State in the new 
Melbourne cabinet — ^was seeking re-election (May, 
1835) from his old constituency. As his Lordship 
had been instrumental in getting Peel and the tories 
out of office, his constituents resented the act by 
returning another member in his place. It is to this 
noisy election that Dickens alludes in the extract 



I833-35-] EARLY CAREER. 27 

from his speech on " reporting " given above. In 
those days of coaching and slow letter-post, Dickens 
had to keep his editor fully informed of the best and 
quickest transit for his " reports ;" and, by the kind- 
ness of the then sub^editor, who received Dickens's 
letters, and, believing in the man as heartily as the 
great John Black did, has carefully preserved them 
to the present time, I am enabled to give an extract 
from the identical letter received from him when on 
this journey. He writes from the Bush Inn at Bris- 
tol, a famous hostelry for commercial travellers, and 
a noted " coaching " house for persons bound to the 
West of England. The letter was dated Tuesday 
morning: — 

" The conclusion of Russell's dinner will be' for- 
warded by Cooper's Company's coach, which leaves 
here at half-past six to-morrow morning. The report 
of the Bath dinner shall be forwarded by the first 
Bath coach on Thursday morning — what time it starts 
we have no means of ascertaining till we reach Bath ; 
but you will receive it as early as possible, as we will 
indorse the parcel * Pay the porter 2/6 extra for 
immediate delivery.' Beard will go over to Bath 
from here to-morrow morning, and I shall come back 
by the mail from Marlborough. I need not say that 
it will be sharp work, and will require two of us ; for 
we shall both be up the whole of the previous night, 
and shall have to sit up all night again to get it off 
in time. 

" As soon as we have had a little sleep, we shall 



"^ 



28 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1833-35. 

return to town as quickly as we can^ for we have (if 
the express succeeds) to stop at two or three pFaces 
along the road, to pay money and express satisfaction. 
You may imagine that we are extremely anxious to 
know the result of the arrangement,. Pray direct to 
one of us at the * White Hart,' Bath, and inform us 
in a parcel sent by the FIRST COACH after you receive 
this, exactly at what hour it arrived. Do not fail on 
any account. 

" We joined with the Herald (I say this in reference 
to the first part of your letter) precisely on the prin- 
ciple you at first laid down — economy ; not pushed 
so far, however, as to interfere with the efficiency of 
the express. As the conclusion of the dinner was to 
be done, we all thought the best plan we could pursue 
would be to leave two men behind, and trust Russell 
to the others. I have no doubt if he makes a speech 
of any ordinary dimensions, it can be done by the 
time we reach Marlborough ; and taking into con- 
sideration the immense importance of having the 
addition of saddle-horses from thence, it is, beyond 
all doubt, worth an effort. 
" Believe me 

'\ (For self and Beard), 

" Very sincerely yours, 
"Charles Dickens. 

" %* I thought of putting the accompanying letter 
to my brother in the post. Will you have the kind- 
ness to send a boy with it ?" 



1833-35.] EARLY CAREER, 29 

This is, in all likelihood, the only letter of Dickens's 
reporting days now in existence. As a record of his 
industry and business foresight it is most interesting, 
and the glimpses that it gives 'of the wild life led 
by a reporter in those days, show us the source of 
that wonderful knowledge of those old coaching 
days and that old tavern life that have passed out 
of actual existence, to live for ever in Dickens's pages. 
We may just say that it is Mr. Thomas Beard, one 
of the first reporters in England, and Dickens's dear 
friend, who is alluded to in the letter ; the Mr. Frank 
Beard, who attended the great novelist in his last 
moments, is, we believe, a brother of this gentleman.' 

Concerning Dickens's earliest printed writings, Mr. 
James Grant, the well-known journalist and author, 
has supplied us with an account which differs much 
from what has been elsewhere said upon this part of 
our author's career. " It is everywhere stated," says 
Mr. Grant, " that the earliest productions from his pen 
made their appearance in the columns of the Morn- 
ing Chronicle, and that Mr. John Black, then editor 
of that journal, was the first to discover and duly to 
appreciate the genius of Mr. Dickens. The fact was 
not so. It is true that he wrote * Sketches ' after- 
wards in the Morning Chronicle, but he did not begin 
them in that journal. Mr. Dickens first became con- 
nected with the Morning Chronicle as a reporter in 
the gallery of the House of Commons. This was in 
1835-36 ; but Mr. Dickens had been previously en- 
gaged, while in his nineteenth year, as a reporter for 



30 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1833-35. 

a publication entitled the Mirror of Parliament^ in 
which capacity he occupied the very highest rank 
among the eighty or ninety reporters for the press 
then in Parliament. While in the gallery of the 
House of Commons, he was exceedingly reserved in 
his manners. Though interchanging the usual cour- 
tesies of life with all with whom he came into contact 
in the discharge of his professional duties, the only 
gentleman at that time in the gallery of the House 
of Commons with whom he formed a close personal 
intimacy, was Mr. Thomas Beard, then a reporter for 
the Morning Herald, and now connected with the 
newspaper press generally, as furnishing the Court 
intelligence in the morning journals. The friendship 
thus formed between Mr. Dickens and Mr. Beard so 
far back as the year 1832 was, I believe, continued 
till the death of Mr. Dickens. 

"It was about the year 1833-34, before Mr. 
Dickens's connection with the Morning Chronicle, and 
before Mr. Black, then editor of that journal, had 
ever met with him, that he commenced his literary 
career as an amateur writer. He made his debut in 
the latter end of 1834 or beginning of 1835, in tfee 
Old Monthly Magazine, then conducted by Captain 
Holland, an intimate friend of mine. The Old Monthly 
Magazine had been started more than a quarter of 
a century before by Sir Richard Philips, and was 
for many years a periodical of large circulation and 
high literary reputation — a fact which might be 
inferred from another fact, namely, that the New 



X833-35-] EARLY CAREER. 31 

Monthly Magazine, started by Mr. Colburn, under the 
editorial auspices of Mr. Thomas Campbell, author 
of ' The Pleasures of Hope/ appropriated the larger 
portion of its title. The Old Monthly Magazine 
was published at half-a-crown, being the same price 
as Blackwood, Eraser, and Bentley's magazines are at 
the present day. 

" It was, as I have said, in this monthly periodical 
— not in the columns of the Morning Chronicle — that 
Mr. Dickens first appeared in the realms of litera- 
ture. He sent, in the first instance, his contributions 
to that periodical anonymously. These consisted of 
sketches, chiefly of a humorous character, and were 
simply signed ^ Boz.' For a long time they did not 
attract any special attention, but were generally 
spoken of in newspaper notices of the magazine, as 
* clever,' ' graphic,' and so forth. 

"Early in 1836 the editorship of the Monthly 
Magazine — the adjective * Old' having been by this 
time dropped — came into my hands ; and in making 
the necessary arrangements for its transfer from 
Captain Holland — then, I should have mentioned, 
proprietor as well as editor — I expressed my great 
admiration of the series of * Sketches by Boz,' 
which had appeared in the Mo7ithly, and said I 
should like to make an arrangement with the writer 
for a continuance of them under my editorship. 
With that view I asked him the name of the author. 
It will sound strange in most ears when I state, that 
a name which has for so many years filled the whole 



i^^wl 



33 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1833-35. 

civilized world with its fame, was not remem- 
bered by Captain Holland. But he added, after 
expressing his regret that he could not at the 
moment recollect the real name of *Boz,' that he 
had received a letter from him a few days previously, 
and that if I would meet him, at the same time and 
place, next day, he would bring me that letter, be- 
cause it related to the * Sketches ' of the writer in 
the Monthly Magazine. As Captain Holland knew 
I was at the time a parliamentary reporter on the 
Morning Chronicle^ then a journal of high literary 
reputation, and of great political influence, he supple- 
mented his remark by saying that ' Boz ' was a parlia- 
mentary reporter ; on which I observed, that I must, 
in that case, know him, at' least by sight, as I was 
acquainted, in that respect, more or less, with all the 
reporters in the gallery of the House of Commons. 

" Captain Holland and I met, according to ap- 
pointment, on the following day, when he brought 
me the letter to which he had referred. I then found 
that the name of the author of * Sketches by Boz * 
was Charles Dickens. The letter was written in the 
most moderate terms. It was simply to the effect that 
as he (Mr. Dickens) had hitherto given all his contri- 
butions — those signed ' Boz ' — gratuitously, he would 
be glad, if Captain Holland thought his * Sketches * 
to be worthy of any small remuneration, as otherwise 
he would be obliged to discontinue them, because he 
was going very soon to get married, and therefore 
would be subjected to more expenses than he was 



i833-3S0 EARLY CAREER. 33 

while living alone, which he was during the time, in 
Furnival's Inn. 

" It was not quite clear from Mr. Dickens's letter to 
Captain Holland, whether he meant he would be glad 
to receive any small consideration for the series of 

* Sketches,' about a dozen in number, which he had 
furnished to the Monthly Magazine without making 
any charge, or whether he only expected to be paid 
for those he might afterwards send. Neither do I 
know whether Captain Holland furnished him with 
any pecuniary expression of his admiration of the 

* Sketches by Boz ' which had appearefi in the 
Mo7ithly. But immediately on receiving Mr. Dickens's 
letter, I wrote to him, saying that the editorship of 
the Monthly Magazine had come into my hands, and 
that, greatly admiring his ^ Sketches * under the 
signature of ' Boz,' I should be glad if we could 
come to any arrangement for a continuance of them. 
I concluded my note by expressing a hope that he 
would, at his earliest convenience, let me know on 
what terms per sheet he would be willing to furnish 
me with similar sketches every month for an indefinite 
period. 

*' By return of post I received a letter from Mr. 
Dickens, to the effect that he had just entered into 
an arrangement with Messrs. Chapman and Hall to 
write a monthly serial. He did not name the work, 
but I found in a few weeks it was none other than 
the ' Pickwick Papers.' He added, that as this 
serial would occupy much of his spare time from his 

c 



34 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1833-35. 

duties as a reporter, he could not undertake to furnish 
me with the proposed sketches for less than eight 
guineas per she^. which was at the rate of half-a- 
guinea per page/' 

" I wrote to him in reply, that the price was not 
too much, but that I could not get the proprietor 
to give the amount, because when the Monthly 
Magazine came into his hands, it was not in the same 
flourishing state as it once had been. I was myself, 
at this time, getting ten guineas a sheet from 
Captain Marryat for writing for his Metropolitan 
Magazine^ which was started by Thomas Campbell 
and Tom Moore, in opposition to the New 
Monthly Magazine, and at the rate of twenty 
guineas per sheet for my contributions to the Penny 
Cyclopcedia. 

" Only imagine," concludes Mr. Grant, with pardon- 
able fervour, ** Mr. Dickens offering to furnish me with 
a continuation, for any length of time which I might 
have named, of his ^ Sketches by Boz ' for eight 
guineas a sheet, whereas in little more than six 
months from that date he could — so great in the 
interval had his popularity become — have got 100 
guineas per sheet of sixteen pages from any of the 
leading periodicals of the day!"* 

Dr. Charles Mackay writes to us: — "John Black, 
of the Morning Chronicle, was always keen to dis- 
cover young genius, and to help it onwards in the 

* Morning Advertiser, 13 th June, 1870. 



X833-3S] EARLY CAREER. 35 

Struggle of life. He very early discovered the talents 
of Dickens — not only as a reporter, but as a writer." 
Dr. Mackay was sub-editor of the Morning Chronicle 
when Dickens was a reporter. He continues : — " I 
have often heard Black speak of him, and predict his 
future fame. When Dickens had become famous, 
Black exerted all his influence with Sir John East- 
hope, principal proprietor of the Chronicley to have 
Dickens engaged as a writer of leading articles. He 
(Black) had his wish, and Dickens wrote several 
articles ; but he did not seem to take kindly to such 
work, and did not long continue at it." 

And Mr. Gruneisen writes : " I believe I must add 
my name to the remaining list of editorial workers 
who became acquainted with Charles Dickens when 
he was in the Gallery. I hope my memory is not 
deceiving me when I claim for Vincent Dowling, 
once a reporter, and for years the respected editor of 
BelVs Life in London^ the credit of having been the 
first to discover the genius for sketching characters 
of Dickens. 'J. G.' may remember that the pro- 
prietary of the Morning Chronicle^ the Observer, and 
BelVs Life was in the hands, if I remember rightly, 
exclusively of Mr. Perry, and the publication of the 
several papers was at the Strand office. I have a 
distinct recollection that Dr. Black's notice of Dickens 
was based on writings which had been in print prior 
to his joining the reporting staff of the Morning 
Chronicle. Dr. Black was always very emphatic in 
his prognostications of the brilliant future of Charles 

C 2 



36 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1833-35- 



Dickens. In 1835 the famed novelist was spoken of 
amongst his colleagues as a man of mark. The ' Boz ' 
sketches, if not the rage of the general public, had 
attracted the attention of the literary circles of the 
day. 

" Respecting the marvellous facility of Dickens as 
a reporter, many versions of his note-taking of a 
speech of the late Lord Derby (when Lord Stanley) 
have been current, and I had a correspondence with 
Dickens on the subject only some months since, he 
promising to give me the accurate record of his 
stenographic feat when he met me. This promise he 
fulfilled the last time, alas ! I ever saw him alive, at 
the anniversary dinner of the Newsvendors* Benevo- 
lent Institution, when he took the chair in Free- 
masons' Hall — the last banquet at which he presided. 
It was in consequence of a reporter having broken 
down for the Mirror of Parliament that the late 
Lord Derby, after complimenting Dickens for his 
report in the Chronicle^ dictated to him his speech, — 
the Mirror, as you are aware, giving in those days 
verbatim reports." 

When Charles Dickens first became acquainted 
with Mr. Vincent Downing, editor of BelVs Life — or 
" Sleepless Life," as he facetiously termed it, from its 
Latin heading, " Nunquam Dormio " (" wide awake ") 
— he would generally stop at old Tom Goodwin's 
oyster and refreshment rooms, opposite the office, in 
the Strand. On one occasion, Mr. Dowling, not 
knowing who had called, desired that the gentleman 



I833-3S-] EARLY CAREER. 37 

would leave his name, to be sent over to the office, 
whereupon young Dickens wrote, 



"CHARLES DICKENS, 

" Resurrectionist^ 

*' In search of a subject!* 



Some recent cases of body-snatching had then 
made the matter a general topic for public discus- 
sion, and Goodwin pasted up the strange address- 
card for the amusement of the medical students who 
patronized his oysters. It was still upon his wall 
when " Pickwick " had made Dickens famous, and 
the old man was never tired of pointing it out to 
those whom he was pleased to call his "bivalve 
demolishers !" 

We may just mention that it was Dowling who 
rushed down from the reporters' gallery and seized 
Bellingham, after his assassination of Spencer Per- 
ceval. 

The late Mr. Jerdan used to describe how he 
caught the Prime Minister in his arms. 




CHAPTER II. 
PUBLICATION OF THE "PICKWICK PAPERS." 



E have thought it right to give Mr. Grant's 
personal account of Dickens's early career 
entire, but it is only fair to other friends of 
the deceased novelist, who have favoured us with par- 
ticulars, that their recollections should find a place in 
these pages. From them we learn that in the year 
1835 our author made his debut as a writer, "with the 
exception of certain tragedies achieved at the mature 
age of eight or ten, and represented with great ap- 
plause to overflowing nurseries." His first sketch, 
entitled "Mrs. Joseph Porter," was inserted in the 
Old Monthly Magazine. In the preface to the " Pick- 
wick Papers," mention is made of the effect its pub- 
lication had on him : — 

** My first effusion — dropped stealthily one 

evening at twilight, with fear and trembling, into a 
dark letter-box, in a dark office, up a dark court in 
Fleet Street — appeared in all the glory of print ; on 
which occasion, by the bye — how well I recollect it ! — 
I walked down to Westminster Hall, and turned into 
it for half an hour, because my eyes were so dimmed 



1834-5] PUBLICATION OF THE ''PICKWICK PAPERS." 39 

with joy and pride, that they could not bear the 
street, and were not fit to be seen there." A number 
of other papers were sent to the same magazine, and 
subsequently he contributed a similar series to the 
evening edition of the Morning Chronicle. 

The pseudonym adopted was " BOZ," which quaint 
signature subsequently gave rise to the epigram, — 

" Who the dickens ' Boz * could be 
Puzzled many a curious f\^\ 
Till time unveil'd the mystery. 
And 'Boz' appear'd as Dickens' self." 

And Tom Hood, in the character of an " unedu- 
cated poet," says, — 

" Arn*t that 'ere ' Boz * a tip-top feller ! 
Lots writes well, but he writes Weller !" 

The reason for such a singular nom de plume is 
thus told by the author himself: — ^' Boz was the 
nickname of a pet child, a younger brother, whom I 
had dubbed Moses, in honour of *The Vicar of 
Wakefield ; * which being facetiously pronounced 
through the nose became Boses, and being shortened 
became Boz. Boz was a very familiar household 
word to me long before I was an author, and so I 
came to adopt it." 

The reception the "Sketches" met with was, we are 
assured, immense ; and it has been truly said — " They 
were the first of their class. Dickens was the first to 
unite the delicately playful thread of Charles Lamb's 
street musings — half experiences, half bookish phan- 
tasies — with the vigorous wit, and humour, and ob- 



40 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1836. 

servation of Goldsmith's ' Citizen of the Worlds' his 
' Indigent Philosopher,' and ' Man in Black,' and twine 
them together in that golden cord of Essay, which 
combines literature with philosophy, humour with 
morality, amusement with instruction." The wonder- 
ful fund of humour and picturesque word-painting 
contained in them surprises, even in these days, most 
persons who read them for the first time. They are, 
as Pope wrote — 

" From grave to gay, from lively to severe." 

The most thrilling and impressive are, undoubtedly, 
" A Visit to Newgate " and '' The Drunkard's Death," 
while, perhaps, the best comic ones are the celebrated 
** Election for Beadle," " Greenwich Fair," and " Miss 
Evans at the Eagle." 

In February, 1836, the first series, in two volumes, 
illustrated by George Cruikshank, was published in 
a collected form by Macrone, of St. James's Square, 
and in the December following the second series was 
issued. Macrone, shortly afterwards, being in dis- 
tressed circumstances, sold the copyright to Messrs. 
Chapman and Hall for ;^i,ioo. At the present day, 
their popularity still remains unabated, and it is 
seldom, at a Penny Reading or entertainment by an 
Elocution Class, that one or more of them is not 
selected as a staple attraction in the programme. 

To show how persons, at times, may take a mis- 
taken and bigoted view of things in general, and how 
apt they are to look with jaundiced eyes on humor- 



1836. J PUBLICATION OF THE " PICKWICK PAPERS." 41 

ous writing, we may be pardoned for mentioning 
that, at one of the Penny Readings at Stowmarket, 
Suffolk, some nine years since, on the announcement 
of a Mr. Gudgeon's intention to read " The Blooms- 
bury Christening," he received this epistle from the 
horrified Rector : — 

" Stowmarket Vicarage, Feb. 25, 1861. 
« Sir, 

" My attention has been directed to a piece called ' The 
Bloomsbury Christening,' which you propose to read this 
evening. Without presuming to claim any interference in the 
arrangement of the Readings, I would suggest to you, whether 
you have, on this occasion, sufficiently considered the character 
of the composition you have selected. I quite appreciate the 
laudable motive of the promoters of the Readings, to raise the 
moral tone and direct this taste in a familiar and pleasant 
manner. 'The Bloomsbury Christening' cannot possibly do 
this. It trifles with a sacred ordinance, and the language and 
style, instead of improving the taste, has a direct tendency to 
lower it. 

** I appeal to your right feehng whether it be desirable to 
give publicity to that which must shock several of your audience, 
and create a smile amongst others, to be indulged in only by 
violating the conscientious scruples of their neighbours. 

" The ordinance which is here exposed to ridicule is one 
which is much misunderstood and neglected, amongst many 
families belonging to the Church of England, and the mode in 
which it is treated in this chapter cannot fail to appear as 
giving a sanction to, or at least excusing, such neglect. 

" Although you are pledged to the public to give this subject, 
yet I cannot but beheve that they would fully justify your sub- 
stitution of it by another, did they know the circumstances. 



42 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1836. 



An abridgment would only lessen the evil, as it is not only the 
style of the writing, but the subject itself, which is objection- 
able. 

" Excuse me for troubling you, but I felt that, in common 
with yourself, I have a grave responsibility in the matter, and I 
am, most truly yours, 

«'T. S. Coles. 
*' To Mr. J. Gudgeon." 

It is not generally known that some time before 
" Pickwick " had been thought of by either publisher 
or author, Dickens was engaged upon a novel, the 
fate of which we may now never know. The success 
of the " Sketches " was such — a second edition being 
called for immediately after they were issued — 
that Macrone entered into an arrangement with 
"Boz" to publish this work in the regular three 
volume form. The title was to be "Gabriel 
Vardon," — and a new novel by the author of 
" Sketches by Boz " was at once advertised by the 
publisher, and continued to be so announced until 
the commencement of 1837, when Macrone failed in 
business, and the advertisement was withdrawn. 
Could the novel have been laid aside to appear, four 
years later, in the altered form of " Barnaby Rudge," 
in which — as the reader may remember — " Gabriel 
Varden " (not Vardon)^ the father of Dolly, is one of 
the principal characters } 

It has been recently stated, in more than one 
journal, that "The Sketches by Boz" were not 
republished in a collective form until after the suc- 
cess of " Pickwick." This is a mistake. It was 



1836.] PUBLICATION OP THE *' PICKWICK PAPERS." 43 

in the month following the publication of the 
"Sketches" — in March, 1836 — that the first number 
of the " Pickwick Papers " was issued, and in the 
following year the work was published in a complete 
form, and dedicated to Mr. Serjeant Talfourd, an old 
and attached friend, and one of the first to recognize 
Dickens's extraordinary genius. He it was that pre- 
sided at the monthly dinner, at the conclusion of 
which the proof of the forthcoming number of 
" Pickwick " was read by him (Talfourd). The 
guests — some half a dozen literary and personal 
friends — expressed their opinions, suggesting changes, 
&c., which the author took kindly, and often availed 
himself of 

His friend, the late Mr. Maclise, often told how that 
he, John Forster, and Charles Dickens used to meet 
at "Jack Straw's Castle," Hampstead Heath, and 
there Dickens would read to them that which he had 
written during the week ; and this done, the rest of 
the time would be passed in a pleasant commingling 
of good cheer and genial criticism. " But this," the 
great artist would add, " was in the good old days 
gone by, when we were all young, and had the world 
before us." 

Subsequently, in sending a complete copy of the 
work to his friend Talfourd, he took occasion to speak 
of his learned friend's exertions to secure to authors 
an extended term of copyright in their works : — 

" If I had not enjoyed the happiness of your 
private friendship, I should still have dedicated this 



44 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1836. 



work to you, as a slight and most inadequate ac- 
knowledgment of the inestimable services you are 

rendering to the literature of your country , 

Many a fevered head and palsied hand will gather 
new vigour in the hour of sickness and distress from 
your excellent exertions ; many a widowed mother 
and orphan child, who would otherwise reap nothing 
from the fame of departed genius but its too frequent 
legacy of poverty and suffering, will bear, in their 
altered condition, higher testimony to the value of 
your labours than the most lavish encomium from 
lip or pen could ever afford. 

" Besides such tributes, any avowal of feeling from 
me, on the question to which you have devoted the 
combined advantages of your eloquence, character, 
and genius, would be powerless indeed. Nevertheless, 
in thus publicly expressing my deep and grateful 
sense of your efforts in behalf of English hterature, 
and of those who devote themselves to the most 
precarious of all pursuits, I do but imperfect justice 
to my own strong feelings on the subject, if I do no 
service to you." 

The entire letter was printed as an introduction to 
the old, original, and large-size edition of " Pickwick," 
but it has been omitted in the "Charles Dickens 
Edition " recently issued. 

An amusing anecdote is remembered of our author 
and the learned Serjeant. At a public dinner, some 
years afterwards, Mr. Talfourd, regretting the absence 
of his friend Dickens, paid an appropriate and well- 



1836.] PUBLICATION OF THE ''PICKWICK PAPERS." 45 

merited compliment to the breadth of surface over 
which the Hfe, character, and general knowledge, 
contained in his works, extended. The reporter, not 
rightly hearing this, or not attending to it, but pro- 
bably saying to himself, " Oh, it 's about Dickens — 
one can't go wrong," gave a version of the learned 
Serjeant's speech in the next morning's paper, to the 
effect that Mr. Dickens's genius comprised that of all 
the greatest minds of the time put together, and that 
his works represented all their works. The high 
ideal and imaginative — the improvements in the 
steam-engine and machinery — all the new discove- 
ries in anatomy, geology, and electricity, with the 
prize cartoons, and history and philosophy thrown 
into the bargain — one had only to search from the 
^* Sketches by Boz " down to " Martin Chuzzlewit " to 
find,insome shape or other — ^^properly understood" — 
all these, and much more ; in fact, everything valu- 
able which the world of letters elsewhere contains ! 
We need hardly say that no reader of this astound- 
ing report was more amused than was Mr. Dickens 
himself, when he glanced over his newspaper on the 
following morning. 

A great deal has been said of the origfsi of Pick- 
wick and his Club, but notwithstanding the accounts 
given by both author and artist are perplexiv'gly cir- 
cumstantial, the reader will have but little div'liculty 
in coming to a conclusion upon the matter. 

The artist's account, given in the introduction to 
the last edition of ** Seymour's Sketches," is this : — 



46 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1836. 

"Seymour was very fond of horticultural pursuits, 
and took great pains in cultivating a very nice garden 
which was attached to his house. Being rather disap- 
pointed with the effect of his gardening operations, it 
was suggested to him that the misfortunes of an 
amateur gardener might be made the subject of some 
humorous drawings. After revolving the idea in his 
mind for a short time, he resolved upon converting it 
into something of a sporting character, and said it 
should be ' Pickwick and his Club.' His first notion 
was to bring it out on a similar plan to that of the 
'Heiress,' which appeared in 1830, and he proposed 
the subject to Mr. McLean. This was in the autumn 
of 1835, during which Mr. Spooner frequently called 
at Seymour's house to ascertain the progress of the 
plates for the ' Book of Christmas,' and on one of 
these occasions Seymour brought forward the project 
of ' Pickwick,' which Spooner highly approved ; and in 
talking the matter over between them, it was decided 
that it would be an improvement to add letterpress. 
The undertaking was so far put in motion that Sey- 
mour etched four plates from the drawings which he 
had made, and Mr. Spooner suggested that Theodore 
Hook should, if possible, be engaged for the letter- 
press. In consequence of Spooner being very much 
occupied in the production of the ' Book of Christmas,' 
which, through the author's (T. K. Hervey's) dilatori- 
ness, came out a month later thaii it should have 
done, * Pickwick ' lay in abeyance, and the four plates 
that were etched remained in the artist's drawer for 



1836.] PUBLICATION OF THE " PICKWICK PAPERS." 47 

about three months, so that Seymour began to think 
that if he did not soon hear from Spooner he would 
bring out the work on his own account, and get H. 
Mayhew or Moncrieff to write for it In February, 
1836, Mr. Chapman, the publisher, called on Seymour 
and asked him to make a drawing for a woodcut, 
which Seymour undertook on the express condition 
that it should be engraved by a certain engraver 
whom he named. At this interview he mentioned 
the * Pickwick ' design to Mr. Chapman, and showed 
him the plates. Chapman very soon closed with his 
offer, proposing at first that it should be brought out 
in half-guinea volumes ; but Seymour, who desired 
the widest circulation, insisted on his original plan, 
for it was his own idea that it should be in shil- 
ling monthly numbers. The publisher then asked 
Seymour if he had engaged an author to do the 
writing, and upon receiving an answer in the negative, 
mentioned Mr. Clarke, the author of *■ Three Courses 
and a Dessert.' This writer, however, the artist ob- 
jected to, for a private reason. Chapman then spoke 
of * Boz ' (Mr. Dickens's pseudonym), and having in 
his hand one of the ' Pickwick ' drawings, which was 
a representation of a poor author's troubles (after- 
wards converted into the ' Stroller's Tale '), he ended 
the matter by some pleasantry about the proverbial 
poverty of literary men, and expressed a hope that 
he would see Mr. Dickens, and lay his views of the 
matter before him. Soon after an interview took 
place between the parties, and the sum of ^15 per 



48 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1836. 

month was agreed on as Dickens's recompense. The 
artist, however, soon found, like Winkle on the tall 
horse, that it was a difficult thing to direct the 
motions of an author who had his own views to 
consult. Seymour's scheme was certainly a form of 
narrative in which the principal incidents should be 
of a sporting character, something, as Mr. Dickens 
describes it, * a Nimrod Club, the members of which 
were to go out shooting, fishing, and so forth.* 
Whether this design involves such a pastoral sim- 
plicity, and restricts the range of description so much 
as Mr. Dickens seems to imply, is perhaps capable of 
being disproved. Certain it is that sketches to illus- 
trate the ' Pickwick Papers ' were designed a con- 
siderable time before the letterpress was arranged 
for ; and the well-known portrait of the founder of 
the club existed on paper at least five years prior to 
Mr. Chapman's visit to Seymour when the artist un- 
folded his views. In the second plate of the 'Heiress' 
series, published March i, 1830, Mr. Pickwick in- 
troduces the modest girl, just arrived from the 
country, to Lady Dashfort, who exclaims, 'And 
blushing too — how very amusing ! ' The figure of 
Pickwick was a favourite character, a sort of stock- 
piece with Seymour — ^just as Mr. Briggs and Pater- 
familias were favourites of John Leech, or as that 
stout elderly gentleman, with well-brushed whiskers, 
and invariably attired in a buttoned-up frock-coat, is 
of Mr. Charles Keene. In Sketch 1 14 of ' Seymour's 
Sketches,' a figure very closely resembling the well- 



1836.] PUBLICATION OF THE ''PICKWICK PAPERS." 49 

known form of Pickwick may be seen. It should 
here be stated that the original designs were in some 
degree modified, as it is certain, from an entry in the 
artist's books, that the first four plates were re-etched. 
By whatever combination of counsels it happened, 
the first number of 'Pickwick' came out April 1st, 
and was very successful. Mr. Dickens wrote to Sey- 
mour the following letter : — 

" ' My dear Sir, — I had intended to write you to 
say how much gratified I feel by the pains you have 
bestowed on our mutual friend Mr. Pickwick, and 
how much the result of your labours has surpassed 
my expectations. I am happy to be able to con- 
gratulate you, the publishers, and myself on the 
success of the undertaking, which appears to have 
been most complete. 

" ' I have now another reason for troubling you. 
It is this. I am extremely anxious about the 
" Stroller's Tale," the more especially as many 
literary friends, on whose judgment I place great 
reliance, think it will create considerable sensation. 
I have seen your design for an etching to accompany 
it. I think it extremely good, but still it is not quite 
my idea ; and as I feel so very solicitous to have 
it as complete as possible, I shall feel personally 
obliged if you will make another drawing. It will 
give me great pleasure to see you, as well as the 
drawing, when it is completed. With this view I 
have asked Chapman and Hall to take a gla^ of 
grog with me on Sunday evening (the only night I 

D 






so LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1836. 

am disengaged), when I hope you will be able to 
look in. 

" * The alteration I want I will endeavour to 
explain. I think the woman should be younger — 
the dismal man decidedly should, and he should be 
less miserable in appearance. To communicate an 
interest to the plate his whole appearance should 
express more sympathy and solicitude ; and while I 
represented the sick man as emaciated and dying, I 
would not make him too repulsive. The furniture of 
the room you have depicted admirably. I have 
ventured to make these suggestions, feeling assured 
that you will consider them in the spirit in which I 
submit them to your judgment. I shall be happy to 
hear from you that I may expect to see you on 
Sunday evening. — Dear Sir, very truly yours, 

" * Charles Dickens.' 

" In compliance with this wish, Seymour made a 
new drawing for the '■ Stroller's Tale,' which he etched 
on steel, and gave it into the hands of Mr. Dickens 
on the Sunday evening appointed. This was the 
last illustration the artist did for * Pickwick.' His 
sad death, which took place April 20th, 1836, is 
perhaps known to the reader. 

" The second number of the * Pickwick Papers ' 
contained the following just eulogium : — ' Some time 
must elapse before the void the deceased gentleman 
has left in his profession can be filled up. The blank 
his death has occasioned in the society which his 



1 



1836.] PUBLICATION OF THE ''PICKWICK PAPERS." 51 

amiable nature won, and his talents adorned, we 
hardly hope to see supplied. We do not allude to 
this distressing event in the vain hope of adding, by 
any eulogium of ours, to the respect in which the 
late Mr. Seymour's memory is held by all who ever 
knew him.' 

" Mr. Dickens adds : — * Some apology is due to 
our readers with only three plates. When we say 
they comprise Mr. Seymour's last efforts, and that 
upon one of them in particular (the embellishments 
of the " Stroller's Tale") he was engaged to a late 
hour of the night preceding his death, we feel con- 
fident the excuse will be deemed a sufficient one.' 
This, however, is incorrect. We have already said 
that this plate, which was certainly the last Seymour 
did for * Pickwick,' was given to Mr. Dickens on the 
Sunday evening on which Seymour met him at Fur- 
nival's Inn, about a fortnight before." 

Such is the artist's account. 

As recently as March, 1866, a letter concerning this 
subject appeared in the Athencstcm, signed " R. Sey- 
mour." This was from the son of the artist who 
drew those inimitable caricatures of George IV. and 
his Ministry, and who, as we have seen, was associated 
with Dickens in the production of Pickwick. 

The following was Mr. Dickens's reply, sent to the 
editor of the A theiiceum : — 

"Gad's Hill Place, March 28, 1866. 

" As the author of the * Pickwick Papers ' (and of 
one or two other books), I send you a few facts, and 

D 2 



52 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1836. 

no comments, having reference to a letter signed * R. 
Seymour,' which in your editorial discretion you pub- 
lished last week. 

" Mr. Seymour, the artist, never originated, sug- 
gested, or in any way had to do with, save as illus- 
trator of what I devised, an incident, a character 
(except the sporting tastes of Mr. Winkle), a name, 
a phrase, or a word, to be found in the ^ Pickwick 
Papers.' 

" I never saw Mr. Seymour's handwriting, I believe, 
in my life. 

" I never even saw Mr. Seymour but once in my 
life, and that was within eight-and-forty hours of his 
untimely death. Two persons, both still living, were 
present on that short occasion. 

" Mr. Seymour died when only the first twenty-four 
printed pages of the ' Pickwick Papers ' were pub- 
lished ; I think before the next three or four pages 
were completely written ; I am sure before one sub- 
sequent line of the book was invented. 

" In the Preface to the cheap edition of the ' Pick- 
wick Papers,' published in October, 1847, I thus 
described the origin of that work : — ' I was a young 
man of three-and-twenty, when the present pub- 
lishers, attracted by some pieces I was at that time 
writing in the Mornmg- Chronicle newspaper (of which 
one series had lately been collected and published in 
two volumes, illustrated by my esteemed friend Mr. 
George Cruikshank), waited upon me to propose 
a something that should be published in shilling 



( 



1836.] PUBLICATION OF THE '' PICKWICK PAPERS." 53 

numbers — then only known to me, or, I believe, to 
anybody else, by a dim recollection of certain inter- 
minable novels in that form, which used, some five- 
and-twenty years ago, to be carried about the country 
by pedlars, and over some of which I remember to 
have shed innumerable tears before I served my 
apprenticeship to Life. * * * xhe idea pro- 
pounded to me was that the monthly something 
should be a vehicle for certain plates, to be executed 
by Mr. Seymour ; and there was a notion, either on 
the part of that admirable humorous artist, or of my 
visitor (I forget which), that a " Nimrod Club," the 
members of which were to go out shooting, fishing, 
and so forth, and getting themselves into difficulties 
through their want of dexterity, would be the best 
means of introducing these. I objected, on consi- 
deration, that although born and partly bred in the 
country, I was no great sportsman, except in regard 
of all kinds of locomotion ; that the idea was not 
novel, and had been already much used ; that it 
would be infinitely better for the plates to arise 
naturally out of the text ; and that I should like to 
take my own way, with a freer range of English 
scenes and people, and was afraid I should ultimately 
do so in any case, whatever course I might prescribe 
to myself at starting. My views being deferred to, 
I thought of Mr. Pickwick, and wrote the first num- 
ber ; from the proof sheets of which Mr. Seymour 
made his drawing of the Club, and that happy por- 
trait of its founder, by which he is always recognized, 



54 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1836. 

and which may be said to have made him a reaHty, 
I connected Mr. Pickwick with a club because of 
the original suggestion, and I put in Mr. Winkle 
expressly for the use of Mr. Seymour. We started 
with a number of twenty-four pages instead of 
thirty-two, and four illustrations in lieu of a couple. 
Mr. Seymour's sudden and lamented death before 
the second number was published, brought about a 
quick decision upon a point already in agitation ; the 
number became one of thirty-two pages with two 
illustrations, and remained so to the end. 

"In July, 1849, some incoherent assertions made by 
the widow of Mr. Seymour, in the course of certain 
endeavours of hers to raise money, induced me to 
address a letter to Mr. Edward Chapman, then the 
only surviving business partner in the original firm 
of Chapman and Hall, who first published the 
' Pickwick Papers,' requesting him to inform me in 
writing whether the foregoing statement was correct. 

" In Mr. Chapman's confirmatory answer, imme- 
diately written, he reminded me that I had given 
Mr. Seymour more credit than was his due. * As 
this letter is to be historical,' he wrote, 'I may as 
well claim what little belongs to me in the matter, 
and that is, the figure of Pickwick. Seymour's 
first sketch' (made from the proof of my first 
chapter) 'was for a long, thin man. The present 
immortal one he made from my description of a 
friend of mine at Richmond.' " 



CHAPTER III. 



POPULARITY OF THE "PICKWICK PAPERS. 




R. JAMES GRANT'S account of Dickens's 
earliest writings we have already given. 
The same gentleman has favoured us with 
some personal recollections of the fortune which 
attended the first publication of " Pickwick": — 

" In connection with the rapidity of Mr. Dickens's 
rise, and the heights to which he soared in the 
regions of literature, I may mention a few facts 
which have not before found their way into print. 
The terms on which he ccmcluded an arrangement 
with Messrs. Chapman and Hall for the publication 
of the ' Pickwick Papers/ were fifteen guineas for 
each number, the number consisting of two sheets, 
or thirty-two pages. That was a rather smaller sum 
than that at which he offered, just at the same time, 
to contribute to the Monthly Magazine, then under 
my Editorship. 

" For the first five months of its existence Mr. 
Dickens's first serial, the 'Pickwick Papers,' was a 
signal failure, and notwithstanding the fact that Mr. 
Charles Tilt, at that time a publisher of consider- 
able eminence, made extraordinary exertions, out 



S6 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1836-7. 

of friendship for Messrs. Chapman and Hall, to en- 
sure its success. He sent out, on what is called sale 
or return, to all parts of the provinces, no fewer than 
fifteen hundred copies of each of the first five numbers. 
This gave the ' Pickwick Papers ' a very extensive 
publicity, yet* Mr. Tilt's only result was an average 
sale of about fifty copies of each of the five parts. A 
certain number of copies sold, of course, through 
other channels, but commercially the publication was 
a decided failure. Two months before this Mr. 
Seymour, the artist, died suddenly, but left sketches 
for two parts more, and the question was then 
debated by the publishers whether they ought not to 
discontinue the publication of the serial. But just 
while the matter was under their consideration, Sam 
Weller, who had been introduced in the previous 
number, began to attract great attention, and to call 
forth much admiration. The press was all but 
unanimous in praising * Samivel ' as an entirely 
original character, whom none but a great genius 
could have created ; and all of a sudden, in con- 
sequence of * Samivel's ' popularity, the ' Pickwick 
Papers' rose to an unheard-of popularity. The back 
numbers of the work were ordered to a large extent, 
and of course all idea of discontinuing it was 
abandoned. 

" No one can read these interesting incidents with- 
out being struck with the fact that the future literary 
career of Mr. Dickens should have been for a brief 
season placed in circumstances of so much risk 



1836.] POPULARITY OF THE ''PICKWICK PAPERS. 57 

of proving a failure ; for there can be no doubt that 
had the publication of his serial been discontinued 
at this particular period, there was little or no pro- 
bability that other publishers would have undertaken 
the risk of any other literary venture of his. And 
he might consequently have lived and died, great as 
his gifts and genius were, without being known in the 
world of literature. How true it is that there is a 
tide in the affairs of men ! 

" By the time the ' Pickwick Papers ' had reached 
their twelfth number, that being half of the numbers 
of which it was originally intended the work should 
consist, Messrs. Chapman and Hall were so gratified 
with the signal success to which it had now attained, 
that they sent Mr. Dickens a cheque for ;^500, as a 
practical expression of their satisfaction with the 
sale. The work continued steadily to increase in 
circulation until its completion, when the sale had 
all but reached 40,000 copies. In the interval 
between the twelfth and concluding number, Messrs. 
Chapman and Hall sent Mr. Dickens several cheques, 
amounting in all to ;^3,ooo, in addition to the fifteen 
guineas per number which they had engaged at the 
beginning to give him. It was understood at the time 
that Messrs. Chapman and Hall made a clear profit 
of nearly ;^20,000 by the sale of the ' Pickwick 
Papers,' after paying Mr. Dickens in round numbers 

" Probably," concludes Mr. Grant, " there are few 
instances on record in the annals of literature in 



58 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS, [1836. 

which an author rose so rapidly to popularity and 
attained so great a height in it as Mr. Dickens. His 
popularity was all the more remarkable because it 
was reached while yet a mere youth. He was in- 
comparably the most popular author of his day be- 
fore he had attained his twenty-sixth year ; and 
what is even more extraordinary still, he retained the 
distinction of being the most brilliant author of the 
age until the very hour of his death, — a period of no 
less than thirty-five years." 

Since the illustrious author's decease even the 
bookbinders who had the charge of "Pickwick" 
have been claiming the honour of stitching the sheets 
together, and giving their recollections to the news- 
papers. It having been stated in the Daily Telegraph 
that " it was a question between Messrs. Chapman 
and Hall and their binder, Mr. Bone " (the gentle- 
man who bound the book now in the reader's hand) 
"whether a greater or less number than seven hun- 
dred copies should be stitched in wrappers, instead 
of hundreds, it soon became necessary to provide 
for the sale of thousands ; and the green covers of 
'Pickwick' were seen all over the country." But a 
Mr. Joseph Aked, of Green Street, Leicester Square, 
on the following day sent this correction to the same 
journal : — 

"Sir, — In your sketch of the life and death of 
Mr. Charles Dickens, in yesterday's Telegraph, you 
state that the first order given to the binder for 
Part I. of the * Pickwick' was 700 copies, and it was a 



1835.] POPULARITY OF THE " PICKWICK PAPERS." 59 

question between Messrs. Chapman and Hall, and 
Mr. Bone, the binder, whether a greater or less 
number than 700 should be stitched in wrapper. 

>*'The first order for Part I. of the 'Pickwick' was 
for 400 copies only, and the order was given to my- 
self to execute (not to Mr. Bone) by Messrs. Chap- 
man and Hall, the publishers, who in those days did 
not consult the binder about the number of copies 
they would require. Also the first number, stitched 
and put in the green cover, was done by myself, my 
workpeople having left off work for the day. 

" Before the completion of the work the sale 
amounted to nearly 40,000, the orders being given 
to myself and to Mr. Bone." 

Readers of " Pickwick " found the style so fresh 
and novel, so totally unlike the forced fun and unreal 
laughter of the other light reading of their time, 
that the smallest scrap from any portion of the work 
was deemed worthy of frequent quotation — a gem in 
itself. We have seen a little book — now very rare, 
and not to be found in the British Museum — of which 
thousands and thousands of copies must have been 
sold by Mr. Park, of Long Lane, and Mr. Catnach, 
of Seven Dials, bearing the title of "Beauties of 
Pickwick." 

The famed Pickwick cigar — the ''Penny Pick- 
wick" of our childhood — is too well known to need 
any comment. It was a "brand" originally made 
by a manufacturer in Leman Street, Minories, 
and sold in boxes and papers decorated with Mr. 



6o 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



I1836. 



Pickwick, hat off, bowing to you in the politest 
manner, and offering for your notice a long scroll, 
setting forth the excellence of the cigar — a small 
cheroot, and containing about one half of the tobacco 
used in a cigar of this kind sold at 2d. At the 
present day " Pickwicks " are patronized almost en- 
tirely by cab-drivers. 

Then there were " Pickwick " hats, with narrow 
brims curved up at the sides as in the figure of the 
immortal possessor of that name ; " Pickwick " canes, 
with tassels ; and " Pickwick " coats, with brass and 
horn buttons, and the cloth invariably dark green 
or dark plum. The name " Pickwick " is said to 
have been taken from the hamlet or cluster of houses 
which formed the last resting-stage for coaches going 
to Bath,* which town, it will be remembered, was the 
scene of Sam Weller's chaffing of " Blazes," the red- 
breeched footman. 

But to return to the work as a literary composition. 
"The Pickwick Papers" stands alone from all 
Dickens's works. Like " Robinson Crusoe," " Tom 
Jones," " Gulliver," " Rabelais," " Tristram Shandy," 



* "Pickwick {gj m.). — A degree of importance is attached 
to this small place, from its contiguity to Corsham House (i m.), 
the celebrated seat of Paul Cobb Methuen, Esq., whose superb 
collection of paintings are the theme and admiration of every 
visitor. On the right of Pickwick stands Hartham Park, the 
seat of — Jay, Esq., and Pickwick Lodge, belonging to Caleb 
Dickenson, Esq."—" Walks Through Bath." By Pierce Egan, 
1819. 



1836.] POPULARITY OF THE " PICKWICK PAPERS." 6x 

" The Vicar of Wakefield," and half a score more, it 
will never die out or be forgotten. It is crammed 
with rollicking fun and drollery. You may read it 
fifty times and never tire of it. Open it at whatever 
page you will, the charm is such that one cannot put 
it down without feeling thoroughly amused and de- 
lighted. We may remark that the well-known song, 
" The Ivy Green," which William Henry Russell used 
to sing with such eclat ^ five-and-twenty years since, 
first appeared in " Pickwick." It is the only poetry 
contained in any of Dickens's novels. Judging from 
its merits, the author would doubtlessly have taken 
a very fair stand as a poet. In "Shy Neighbourhoods " 
(" Uncommercial Traveller " ), speaking of w^alking 
one night half-asleep, dozing heavily, and slumbering 
continually, he observes, " I made immense quan- 
tities of verses on that pedestrian occasion (of course 
I never make any when I am in my right senses)." 

Concerning the inimitable " Pickwick," Blackwood, 
many years since, in an article entitled " A Remon- 
strance with Dickens," thus bears testimony : " As 
to what the best bits are, only he who brings a virgin 
palate is, perhaps, qualified to discriminate, of so 
rich materials is the whole compounded ; and to this 
day we are lost in admiration of the wealth of humour 
which could go on, page after page, chapter after 
chapter, month after month, to the close of a long 
work, pouring forth, from a source seemingly inex- 
haustible, fun, and incident, and description, and 
character, ever fresh, vivid^ and new, which, if distri- 



6-i LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1836, 

buted with a thrifty hand, would have served to 
relieve and enliven, perhaps immortalize, twenty- 
sober romances. The very plan of the work (if plan 
it can be called where plan seems none) evinces the 
writer's extraordinary confidence in his resources, 
where a knot of individuals, connected with the 
loosest tie, and interesting only from their unconscious 
drollery, are cast loose upon the world to wander 
through scenes of every-day life, in which, though 
constantly getting more absurd and weak, they yet 
gain a firm hold on the reader's affection ; so that at 
length we take leave of Mr. Pickwick, in his rural 
retirement at Dulwich, with a lingering fondness, 
such as we have never felt for any of those young 
and handsome miracles of sense and spirit upon 
whose heroic career the vicissitudes of three thrilling 
volumes are suspended. * * But so much geniality 
of all kinds is displayed in the book, that probably 
no appreciative reader ever rose from its perusal 
without a strong feeling of personal regard for the 
author — an element generally omitted in the estimate 
of a writer's genius, to which we always attach great 
importance." 

A writer, whose name we have forgotten, remarked 
that " Pickwick " was made up of " two pounds of 
Smollett, three ounces of Sterne, a handful of Hook, 
a dash of the grammatical Pierce Egan — incidents 
at pleasure, served with an original sauce piquante!' 
And Lady Chatterton, in one of her works, re- 
marked : — " Mr. Davy, who accompanied Colonel 



1836.] POPULARITY OF THE " PICKWICK PAPERS," 63 

Chesney up the Euphrates, has recently been in the 
service of Mahomet Ali Pacha. * Pickwick ' happen- 
ing to reach Davy while he was at Damascus, he 
read a part of it to the Pacha, who was so delighted 
with it, that Davy was on one occasion summoned 
to him in the middle of the night, to finish the 
reading of some part in which they had been in- 
terrupted, Mr. Davy read in Egypt, upon another 
occasion, some passages from these unrivalled papers 
to a blind Englishman, who was in such ecstasy with 
what he had heard, that he exclaimed he was almost 
thankful he could not see he was in a foreign country, 
for that, Avhile he listened, he felt completely as though 
he were again in England." 

" Pickwick " was attacked in the Quarterly Review^ 
which declared that " indications are not wanting 
that the peculiar vein of humour which has hitherto 
yielded such attractive metal is worn out j" but the 
rancorous article did not change public opinion, and 
the work continued just as popular as ever. 

James Smith (one of the authors of "The Rejected 
Addresses"), according to the Law Magazine, one 
day made the bold assertion, that he clearly preceded 
Mr. Dickens in the line which first acquired "The 
Pickwick Papers " their popularity. 

Sydney Smith had two tests for the goodness of a 
novel : " Does it make you deaf to the dinner-bell .?" 

" While reading it, do you forget to answer, even if 
a bishop should speak to you V' 

Moncrieff, the famous author of " Tom and Jerry," 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1836. 



and a hundred farces and light comedies, dramatized 
" Pickwick " long before it was finished, for the Strand 
Theatre,- where it was performed under the title of — 

" Safn Weller ; or. The Pickwickians ;" 
Mr. W. J. Hammond sustaining the character of Sam 
Weller. The termination of the drama was very 
different to that given in the book itself, as will be 
readily seen. The adapter caused Mrs. Bardell to be 
tried and found guilty of attempted bigamy, her 
husband being Alfred Jingle. Messrs. Dodson arid 
Fogg, the Freeman Court sharks, were sent to 
Newgate for conspiracy, and only released upon 
payment of the sum of ;^300 or thereabouts, which 
Mr. Pickwick, on receiving, very generously handed 
to Jingle to start afresh in the world ; the curtain 
falling with a herald entering and announcing the 
accession of Queen Victoria, which occurred about 
this time ! 

Another version was acted, with indifferent success, 
at the Adelphi, Yates representing Mr. Pickwick, and 
John Reeve, Sam Weller. In February, 1838, Mr. 
G. W. M. Reynolds started a monthly " Pickwick 
Abroad ; or, A Tour in France," illustrated by Alfred 
Crowquill. As a curiosity, it deserves to be read, if 
only to see the immense difference existing between 
the two books. 



-=€(S2!8- 




CHAPTER IV. 



DICKENS AS A DRAMATIST. — "OLIVER TWIST.' 




T was in the year 1836 that Mr. Thackeray, 
according to an anecdote related by himself, 
offered Mr. Dickens to undertake the task of 
illustrating one of his works. The story was told by the 
former at an anniversary dinner of the Royal Academy 
a few years since, Mr. Dickens being present on the oc- 
casion. " I can remember (said Mr. Thackeray) when 
Mr. Dickens was a very young man, and had com- 
menced delighting the world with some charming 
humorous works in covers, which were coloured light 
green, and came out once a month, that this young 
man wanted an artist to illustrate his writings ; and I 
recollect walking up to his chambers in Furnival's Inn, 
with two or three drawings in my hand, which, strange 
to say, he did not find suitable. But for the unfortunate 
blight which came over my artistical existence, it 
would have been my pride and my pleasure to have 
endeavoured one day to find a place on these walls 
for one of my performances." The work referred to 
was the " Pickwick Papers." Seymour, the illustrator, 
having destroyed himself in a fit of derangement, a 
new artist was wanted, and the result was the singular 

£ 



66 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1838. 

interview between the two men whose names, though 
representing schools of fiction so widely different, 
were destined to become constantly associated in the 
public mind. 

A leading article in a morning newspaper on the 
occasion of Mr. Thackeray's death, in telling the 
anecdote of his attempt to illustrate " Pickwick," 
adds, that disappointed at the rejection of his offer, 
he exclaimed, " Well, if you will not let me draw, I 
will write;" and from that hour determined to com- 
pete with his illustrious brother novelist for public 
favour. Nothing could be more opposed to the facts 
than this coloured version of the anecdote. It was 
not for a year or two after the event referred to that 
he began seriously to devote himself to literary 
labour ; and his articles, published anonymously, and 
only now for the first time brought into notice, 
because recognized from their noms de phune to have 
been written by him, contain the best evidences that 
he felt no shadow of ill-will for a rejection which he 
aKvays good-humouredly alluded to as " Mr. Pick- 
wick's lucky escape !"* 

The artists eventually engaged to take Seymour's 
place were, first Mr. Buss, and then Mr. Hablot 
Knight Browne, who had, in woodcut, illustrated a 
small pamphlet by Mr. Charles Dickens, now out of 
print and extremely scarce, on the subject of the 
Sabbath in London, and bearing the title of " Sunday 
under three Heads." As is well known, the same 
* Theodore Taylor's ''Life of Thackeray," p 6t,. 



1838.] DICKENS AS A DRAMATIST &j 

artist, under the quaint signature of " Phiz," 
apparently intended to match the author's own 
nom de pliLme, "Boz," continued to etch the plates for 
Mr. Dickens's monthly numbers for many years 
afterwards. Poof Tom Hood used to stumble at the 
name : "-Fizz, Whizz, or something of that sort," he 
would say. 

During the publication of " The Pickwick Papers " 
St. James's Theatre was opened, Sept. 29th, 1836, with 
a burletta entitled " The Strange Gentleman," written 
by " Boz ;" Pritt Harley acted the Strange Gentle- 
man, and " Boz," himself, on one occasion took a part. 
The piece ran until December, when it was withdrawn 
for an operatic burletta, " The Village Coquettes," by 
the same author, the music by John Hullah. The 
parts were sustained by Messrs. Harley (as Martin 
Stokes), Braham (as Squire Norton), Bennett (as 
George Edmunds), and John Parry; Mesdames Smith, 
Rainsforth (as Lucy Benson), and others. It met 
with a marked reception, and Braham, for a long 
time after, at different concerts, sang " The Child and 
the Old Man sat alone;" invariably getting encored 
most enthusiastically. Three other songs in the 
burletta were great favourites, viz., " Love is not 
a Feeling to pass away," "Autumn Leaves," and 
"There's a Charm in Spring." The book of the 
words was published by Mr. Bentley, and dedicated 
to J. Pritt Harley in the following terms : — 

" My dramatic bantlings are no sooner born than 
you father them. You have made my Strange 

E 2 



68 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1838- 

Gentleman exclusively your own ; you have adopted 
Martin Stokes with equal readiness." 

The author, " Boz," excuses himself for appearing 
before the public as the composer of an operatic 
burletta in the following words : — 

" ' Either the Honourable Gentleman is in the 
right, or he is not/ is a phrase in very common use 
within the walls of Parliament. This drama may 
have a plot, or it may not ; and the songs may be 
poetry, or they may not ; and the whole affair, from 
beginning to end, may be great nonsense, or it may 
not ; just as the honourable gentleman or lady who 
reads it may happen to think. So, retaining his own 
private and particular opinion upon the subject (an 
opinion which he formed upwards of a year ago, 
when he wrote the piece), the author leaves every 
gentleman or lady to form his or hers, as he or she 
may think proper, without saying one word to influ- 
ence or conciliate them. 

" All he wishes to say is this, — that he hopes Mr. 
Braham, and all the performers who assisted in the 
representation of this opera, will accept his warmest 
thanks for the interest they evinced in it from its 
very first rehearsal, and for their zealous efforts in his 
behalf — efforts which have crowned it with a degree 
of success far exceeding his most sanguine anticipa- 
tions ; and of which no form of words could speak 
his acknowledgment. 

" It is needless to add, that the libretto of an opera 
must be, to a certain extent, a mere vehicle for the 



1838.] ''OLIVER TWIST." 69 

music ; and that it is scarcely fair or reasonable to 
judge it by those strict rules of criticism which would 
be justly applicable to a five-act tragedy, or a finished 
comedy." 

About this time (in 1837, we believe), Mr. Dickens 
married Miss Catherine Hogarth, a daughter of Mr. 
George Hogarth, musical and dramatic critic of the 
Morning Chronicle, author of " Memoirs of the Musi- 
cal Drama," and formerly a Writer to the Signet in 
Scotland. Dickens now left his old chambers in 
Furnival's Inn, and took the house. No. 48, Doughty 
Street, Mecklenburgh Square. Soon after he was 
installed editor of Bentley's Miscellany, and he 
began therein "Oliver Twist," subsequently pub- 
lished in a complete form by Mr. Bentley in 
November, 1838, illustrated by some of the finest 
etchings that ever sprang from the magic needle of 
George Cruikshank. Any criticism upon the work 
at this time is at least needless, if not impertinent ; 
but we may be forgiven in saying that the work 
abounds in touches of surpassing pathos, picturesque 
description, and dramatic effect, while the sombre 
parts are relieved by a rich vein of irresistible 
humour. The death of Bill Sykes, after the bar- 
barous murder of poor Nancy, is one of the most 
thrilling and effective chapters in the book. Bum- 
ble the Beadle has attained a world-wide reputation. 
The scene of his courtship with Mrs. Corney — first 
prudently ascertaining the value of the spoons, &c. — 
is, perhaps, the best " bit " of all. 



io LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1838. 

In proof of Dickens's accuracy in all matters of 
detail, an eminent medical authority assures us that 
his description of hectic, given in " Oliver Twist," has 
found its way into more than one standard English 
work, in both medicine and surgery,* also into several 
American and French books of medicine. 

The preface to "The Charles Dickens Edition" 
(1867) speaks of Alderman Laurie having called in 
question the existence of such a place as Jacob's. 
Island, and declares that, even then, in 1867, it may 
be seen in almost the same squalid and filthy state 
as it was when first described. " Oliver Twist " was 
directed with great effect against the Poor-law and 
workhouse system. It will be remembered, by many, 
that a great outcry was raised at the time of its 
original publication, and statements respecting its 
" gross untruth " and " distorted facts " were freely 
made. Can any one, reading the shocking and dis- 
graceful disclosures made during the last three or 
four years, still maintain that erroneous opinion } 

A meeting was held at Willis's Rooms, on 3rd 
March, 1866, to promote the establishment of an 
Association for the Improvement of the Infirmaries 
of the London Workhouses. Mr. Ernest Hart, the 
Secretary, had invited Dickens to attend the meet- 
ing, and take part in the proceedings. In his reply, 
the author of " Oliver Twist " said : — 

* Miller's " Principles of Surgery," second edition, p. 46 ; 
also Dr. Aitkin's "Practice of Medicine," third edition, vol. i. 
0. III. 



1838.] ''OLIVER TWIST." 71 

" An annual engagement which I cannot possibly 
forego will prevent my attending next Saturday's 
meeting and (consequently) my seconding the resolu- 
tion proposed to be entrusted to me for that purpose. 
My knowledge of the general condition of sick poor 
in workhouses is not of yesterday, nor are my efforts 
in my vocation to call merciful attention to it. Few 
anomalies in England are so horrible to me as the 
unchecked existence of many shameful sick wards 
for paupers side by side with the constantly increas- 
ing expansion of conventional wonder that the poor 
should creep into corners and die rather than fester 
and rot in those infamous places. 

" You know what they are, and have manfully told 
what they are, to the awakening at last, it would 
seem, of rather more than the seven distinguished 
sleepers. If any subscriptions should be opened to 
advance the objects of our association, do me the 
kindness to set me down for £20!^ 

Mr. Sheldon McKenzie, in the American Round 
Table, relates this anecdote of " Oliver Twist " : — 

" In London I was intimate with the brothers 
Cruikshahk, Robert and George, but more particu- 
larly with the latter. Having called upon him one 
day at his house (it then was in Mydleton Terrace, 
Pentonville), I had to wait while he was finishing an 
etching, for which a printer's boy was waiting. To 
while away the time, I gladly complied with his 
suggestion that I should look over a portfolio 
crowded with etchings, proofs, and dra\vings, which 



78 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1838. 

lay upon the sofa. Among these, carelessly tied 
together in a wrap of brown paper, was a series of 
some twenty-five or thirty drawings, very carefully 
finished, through most of which were carried the 
well-known portraits of Fagin, Bill Sykes and his 
dog, Nancy, the Artful Dodger, and Master Charles 
Bates — all well known to the readers of 'Oliver 
Twist.' There was no mistake about it ; and when 
Cruikshank turned round, his work finished, I said as 
much. He told me that it had long been in his 
mind to show the Hfe of a London thief by a series 
of drawings engraved by himself, in which, without 
a single line of letter-press, the story would be 
strikingly and clearly told. * Dickens,' he continued, 
* dropped in here one day, just as you have done, 
and, while waiting until I could speak with him, took 
up that identical portfolio, and ferreted out that 
bundle of drawings. When he came to that one 
which represents Fagin in the condemned cell, he 
studied it for half an hour, and told me that he was 
tempted to change the whole plot of his story ; not 
to carry Oliver Twist through adventures in the 
country, but to take him up into the thieves' den in 
London, show what their life was, and bring Oliver 
through it without sin or shame. I consented to let 
him write up to as many of the designs as he thought 
would suit his purpose ; and that was the way in 
which Fagin, Sykes, and Nancy were created. My 
drawings suggested them, rather than individuality 
suggesting my drawings." 



X838.] '* OLIVER TWIST." 73 

How the remarkable figure of Fagin was first con- 
ceived Mr. Hodder tells us. The reader will remem- 
ber the picture of the Jew malefactor in the con- 
demned cell, biting his nails in the torture of remorse. 
Cruikshank had been labouring at the subject for 
several days, and thought the task hopeless, when 
sitting up in his bed one morning, with his hand on 
his chin, and his fingers in his mouth, the whole 
attitude expressive of despair, he saw his face in the 
cheval glass. 

" That 's it ! " he exclaimed, " that 's the expression 
I want ! " and he soon finished the picture. 

Thackeray, in " The Newcomes," remarked that 
" a profane work, called * Oliver Twist,' having 
appeared, which George read out to his family 
with admirable emphasis, it is a fact that Lady 
Walham became so interested in the parish-boy's 
progress, that she took his history into her bed-room 
(where it was discovered, under Blatherwick's * Voice 
from Mesopotamia,' by her ladyship's maid) ; and 
that Kew laughed so immensely at Mr. Bumble, the 
Beadle, as to endanger the re-opening of his wound." 

And again, in Eraser's Magazine for Feb., 1840, 
at the end of a clever satire upon the Newgate 
Calendar school of romance, purporting to be written 
by Ikey Solomons, jun., Thackeray thus remarks 
upon " Oliver Twist : " — " No man has read that 
remarkable tale without being interested in poor 
Nancy and her murderer, and especially amused and 
tickled by the gambols of the skilful Dodger and his 



74 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1838. 



companions. The power of the writer is so amazing, 
that the reader at once becomes his captive, and must 
follow him whithersoever he leads : and to what are we 
led ? Breathless to watch all the crimes of Fagin, 
tenderly to deplore the errors of Nancy, to have for 
Bill Sykes a kind of pity and admiration, and an 
absolute love for the society of the Dodger. All 
these heroes stepped from the novel on to the stage ; 
and the whole London public, from peers to chimney- 
sweeps, were interested about a set of ruffians whose 
occupations are thievery, murder, and prostitution. 
A most agreeable set of rascals, indeed, who have 
their virtues, too, but not good company for any man. 
We had better pass them by in decent silence ; for, 
"as no writer can or dare tell the whole truth concern- 
ing them, and faithfully explain their vices, there is 
no need to give ex parte statements of their virtues. 

. The pathos of the work- 
house scenes in * Oliver Twist,* of the Fleet Prison 
descriptions in ' Pickwick,' is genuine and pure — as 
much of this as you please ; as tender a hand to the 
poor, as kindly a word to the unhappy as you will, 
but in the name of common sense let us not expend 
our sympathies on cut-throats and other such pro- 
digies of evil !" 

Albert Smith, in his " Adventures of Mr. Ledbur>^," 
observed that, "in the year 1840, he found an Italian 
translator of the book had placarded the name of the 
poor parish orphan of England against the walls of 
the Ducal Palace of Venice ! " 



1838.] •• OLIVER TWIST." 75 

In May, 1838, an adaptation of the story was pro- 
duced at the PaviHon Theatre, and at the Surrey on 
November 19th following, and met with great success. 
The representations of " Oliver Twist " and " Jack 
Sheppard," being considered as entailing great mis- 
chief, were accordingly prohibited ; but Mr. John 
Oxenford's version (specially licensed), in three acts, 
was produced at the New Queen's Theatre, m April, 
1868, and attracted large audiences, Mr." J. L. Toole 
playing the Artful Dodger, and Miss Nelly Moore, 
Nancy. It was this version that became the subject 
of a Parliamentary discussion : — 

Dr. Brady asked the Secretary of State whether 
the Lord Chamberlain had refused to license a play 
dramatized by Mr. Oxenford from Mr. Dickens's 
celebrated work of " Oliver Twist ; " and whether all 
plays from the same work were interdicted in London 
as being offensive to parish beadles ; and whether he 
approved of the Lord Chamberlain's consideration 
for the feelings of the parish authorities. 

Mr. Hardy : The parish beadles have not the 
influence with the Lord Chamberlain which the Hon. 
Member supposes. Formerly, " Oliver Twist " and 
''Jack Sheppard" were prohibited, but Mr. Oxenford's 
play has been licensed by the Lord Chamberlain. 

Representations also took place at the Surrey, 
Victoria, Pavilion, and other theatres. 




CHAPTER V. 

THE COPYRIGHT OF "OLIVER TWIST." 

ERE we come to a matter connected with 
the transfer of the copyright of " Oliver 
Twist " back into Mr. Dickens's own posses- 
sion, which, many years later, occasioned a contro- 
versy in the public papers. Mr. Jerdan, the once 
famous editor of the Literary Gazette^ in his ram- 
bling autobiography, published in 1853, mentions 
(vol. iv.) that — " Bulwer, I believe, paid Mr. Bentley 
;^ 750 to recover a small portion of copyright which 
he wished, in order to possess an entire property in 
his works ; and, nearly at the same time, Mr. Dickens 
took a like step to repurchase a share of the copy- 
right of ' Oliver Twist,' after it had launched Beiithys 
Miscellmty prosperously on the popular tide, and 
gone through two or three profitable editions. The 
compensation was referred to Mr. John Forster and 
myself, and upon my table the sum of ^2,250 was 
handed over to Mr. Bentley, and both parties per- 
fectly satisfied. But was not 'the trade' fortunate in 
so easily adding to handsome preceding emoluments 
the total of no less than ;^ 3,000 .^" 

Mr. Bentley, in a letter to The Critic (now defunct, 



1838.] COPYRIGHT OF ''OLIVER TWIST." 77 

which had reviewed the book, and quoted the above 
paragraph), replied : — 

"Mr. Jerdan's Autobiography. 

" Sir, — In your last number, while reviewing the 
concluding volume of Mr. Jerdan's Autobiography, 
you quote a statement made by him relative to two 
transactions — one with Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, 
and the other with Mr. Charles Dickens and myself — 
which, if left uncontradicted, is calculated to be in- 
jurious to me. This statement, I distinctly assert, 
is grossly incorrect ; and I have thought it necessary 
to call upon Mr. Jerdan to cancel it altogether. 

" I greatly regret, for Mr. Jerdan's sake, as well as 
the parties referred to, that he should have ventured 
to commit such an indiscretion. 

"Yours faithfully, 

" Richard Bentley, 
" New Burlington Street^ 
" Jan. 12, 1854." 

To which Jerdan in turn wrote : — 

" Mr. Bentley and Mr. Jerdan. 

"To the Editor of The Critic^ London Literary 
Journal. 

" Sir, — Having admitted a letter from Mr. Bentley 
to your columns, impugning a statement you did me 
the honour to quote in your notice of the fourth 
volume of my Autobiography, I beg your permission 



78 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1838. 

to insert the following observations on the com- 
plaint : — 

" If I could have supposed, for an instant, that the 
facts related were calculated to do Mr. Bentley the 
slightest injury, I never would have published them ; 
but, on the most earnest consideration of the matter, 
I must say that such an idea is perfectly incompre- 
hensible. 

" In the one instance, I mention a report that Sir 
Edward Lytton Bulwer had paid a certain sum to 
Mr. Bentley, for the restoration of a particular copy- 
right ; and, in the other, I state from my own know- 
ledge the circumstance of Mr. Dickens having paid a 
-larger sum for a similar reassignment. 

" Now, I would ask, to what does this amount ? 
It may go to prove the truism, that publishers are 
more likely than authors to keep their coaches ; but 
all the rest simply amounts to the commonest com- 
mercial arrangement, viz., that Sir Edward Bulwer 
Lytton and Mr. Dickens paid Mr. Bentley a fair price 
for what they desired to purchase, and which he had 
no higher or more profitable object in wishing to retain. 
In the more important case I was his own arbiter, 
and surely I would not accuse myself of having been 
a party to a transaction injurious to my principal or 
to Mr. Dickens, by sanctioning a disreputable arbi- 
tration, of which I may add, that it had the rare 
good fortune at the time to be perfectly satisfactory 
to all concerned. 

" As for any breach of confidence, you, sir, are far 






1838.] COPYRIGHT OF " OLIVER TWIST." 79 

too conversant with the literary world to suppose 
that these matters were not the common talk of 
every circle in London, and that the attempt to 
represent them as secrets is very preposterous. 

" I am indeed sorry that Mr. Bentley's feelings or 
amour propre have been disturbed ; but I am sure 
that few persons, except himself, will think that I 
have cast a blot on his publishing 'scutcheon. 
" I am, Sir, 

" Yours obediently, 

"W. JERDAN. 
*^ January 2^thr 

Another letter from Mr. Bentley closed the con- 
troversy : — 

" To the Editor of The Critic. 

"New Burlington Street, 
"Feb. 13, 1854. • 
" Sir, — You will oblige me by giving insertion in 
your journal to the accompanying letter from Mr. 
Forster, which has been : handsomely sent to me 
without any solicitation on my part. 
•" Yours faithfully, 

" Richard Bentley." 

[Copy enclosed.] 

"58, Lincoln's Inn Fields, 
"Jan. 31, 1854. 
" Dear Sir, — I perceive that the Morning Herald 



8o LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1838. 

which I have just received comes from you, and 
I cannot doubt that it is sent to me because it contains 
a correspondence between yourself and Mr. Jerdan, 
in reference to a statement on the part of the latter, 
in which my name is introduced. 

" I feel it right, in confirmation of your opinion, 
expressed in that correspondence, to state to you my 
own opinion, that the negotiation was undoubtedly 
of a private nature, and one with which the public 
have no concern. 

"Further, there were matters in dispute between 
yourself and Mr. Dickens, the fair adjustment of 
which was taken into account when the sum of 
;^2,25o was fixed upon as the price at which he 
should purchase back from you the copyright of 
* Oliver Twist* 

"This matter having been brought before the 

public without any fault of yours, it is just towards 

you that I should write these few words ; and I do 

so with the knowledge and consent of Mr. Dickens 

himself. 

" Yours very truly, 

"John Forster. 
«R. Bentley, Esq." 

" Oliver Twist " completed, Dickens resigned the 
editorship to Mr. W. Harrison Ainsworth, who, we 
believe, still occupies that position. Just before the 
last instalment was published, there appeared in 
Bentlefs Miscellany this : — 



1838.] COPYRIGHT OF "OLIVER TWIST." 8x 

"POETICAL EPISTLE FROM FATHER PROUT 
TO BOZ, 

I. 

" A RHYME ! a rhyme ! from a distant clime, — from the gulph of 

the Genoese : 
0*er the rugged scalps of the Julian Alps, dear Boz !. I send you 

these. 
To light the Wick your candlestick holds up, or, should you 

list. 
To usher in the yarn you spin concerning Oliver Twist. 

II. 

" Immense applause you 've gained, oh, Boz ! through continental 

Europe ; 
You'll make Pickwick oecumenick;* of fame you have a sure 

hope: 
For here your books are found, gadzooks ! in greater luxe than 

any 
That have issued yet, hotpress'd or wet, from the types of 

Galignani. 

III. 
" But neither when you sport your pen, oh, potent mirth-com- 

peller ! 
Winning our hearts * in monthly parts,' can Pickwick or Sam 

Weller 
Cause us to weep with pathos deep, or shake with laugh spas- 
modical. 
As when you drain your copious vein for Bentley*s periodical. 

IV. 

" Folks all enjoy your Parish Boy, — so truly you depict him ; 
But I, alack! while thus you track your stinted Poor-law's 
victim, 

* etScoXov Tr\^ yrjs oiKOVfX€Prfs. 

F 



8a LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1838. 

Must think of some poor nearer home, — poor who, unheeded, 

perish, 
By squires despoiled, by 'patriots' gulled,^! mean the starving 

Irish. 



V. 

" Yet there *8 no dearth of Irish mirth, which, to a mind of 

feeling, 
Seemeth to be the Helot*s glee before the Spartan reeling : 
Such gloomy thought o'ercometh not the glow of England's 

humour. 
Thrice happy isle ! long may the smile of genuine joy illume 

herl 

VI. 

" Write on, young sage 1 still o'er the page pour forth the flood 
of fancy; 

Wax still more droll, wave o'er the soul Wit's wand of necro- 
mancy. 

Behold ! e'en now around your brow th* immortal laurel 
thickens ; 

Yea, Swift or Sterne might gladly learn a thing or two from 
Dickens. 

VII. 

" A rhyme ! a rhyme ! from a distant clime, — a song from the 

sunny south ! 
A goodly theme, so Boz but deem the measure not uncouth. 
Would, for thy sake, that * Prout ' could make his bow in 

fashion finer, 
' Partant* (from thee) 'pour la Syrie,' for Greece and Asia 

Minor. 

"Genoa, \\tb December, 1837." 



^ 



CHAPTER VI. 



NICHOLAS NICKLEBY. 



^•j^N January, 1838, "The Memoirs of Joseph 
Im I^ Grimaldi, the Clown," edited by Dickens, 
illustrated by Cruikshank, was published by 



Mr. Bentley, in two volumes. It is amusingly written, 
full of merriment and quaint anecdotes of the great 
pantomimist, and has gone through several editions. 
It was not, however, the composition of Mr. Dickens, 
being only " edited " by him, as the title-page de- 
clares. 

The next work — and the second in the "green- 
leaf" series — was "Nicholas Nickleby," the first 
number of which appeared 31st March, 1838. It 
extended to twenty numbers, and was published in a 
complete form, in the following year, by Messrs. 
Chapman and Hall, dedicated to Mr. Macready. 
This novel showed that Dickens was still working for 
the emancipation of boyhood. In the preface, after 
mentioning how he first came to hear of the gross 
mismanagement carried on in the Yorkshire schools, 
he resolved to go and see what they were like. 

" With that intent I went down into Yorkshire 
before I began this book, in very severe winter-time, 

F 2 



^ 



84 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1838. 

which is pretty faithfully described herein. As I 
wanted to see a schoolmaster or two, and was fore- 
warned that those gentlemen might, in their modesty, 
be shy of receiving a visit from the author of the 
'Pickwick Papers,' I consulted with a professional 
friend here, who had a Yorkshire connection, and with 
whom I concerted a pious fraud. He gave me some 
letters of introduction, in the name, I think, of my 
travelling companion ; they bore reference to a sup- 
posititious little boy who had been left with a widowed 
mother who didn't know what to do with him ; the 
poor lady had thought, as a means of thawing the 
tardy compassion of her relations in his behalf, of 
sending him to a Yorkshire school ; I was the poor 
lady's friend, travelling that way ; and if the recipient 
of the letter could inform me of a school in his neigh- 
bourhood, the writer would be very much obliged. 

"I went to several places in that part of the 
country where I understood these schools to be most 
plentifully sprinkled, and had no occasion to deliver 
a letter until I came to a certain town which shall be 
nameless. The person to whom it was addressed was 
not at home ; but he came down at night, through 
the snow, to the inn where I was staying. It was 
after dinner ; and he needed little persuasion to sit 
down by the fire in a warm corner, and take his share 
of the wine that was on the table, 

" I am afraid he is dead now. I recollect he was 
a jovial, ruddy, broad-faced man ; that we got ac- 
quainted directly ; and that we talked on all kinds of 



it38.] "NICHOLAS NICKLEBY." 85 

subjects, except the school, which he showed a great 
anxiety to avoid. Was there any large school near ? 
I asked him, in reference to the letter. ' Oh yes,' he 
said ; ' there was a pratty big 'un.' ' Was it a good 
one?* I asked. *Ey !' he said, 'it was as good as 
anoother ; that was a' a matther of opinion ;* and fell 
to looking at the fire, staring round the room, and 
whistling a little. On my reverting to some other 
topic that we had been discussing, he recovered 
immediately ; but, though I tried him again and 
again, I never approached the question of the school, 
even if he were in the middle of a laugh, without 
observing that his countenance fell, and that he be- 
came uncomfortable. At last, when we had passed a 
couple of hours or so, very agreeably, he suddenly 
took up his hat, and leaning over the table and look- 
ing me full in the face, said, in a low voice, * Weel, 
Misther, we've been vary pleasant toogather, and ar'U 
spak' my moind tiv'ee. Dinnot let the weedur send 
her lattle boy to yan o' our schoolmeasthers, while 
there's a harse to hoold in a' Lunnun, or a gootther 
to lie asleep in. Ar wouldn't mak' ill words amang 
my neeburs, and ar speak tiv'ee quiet loike. But 
I 'm dom'd if ar can gang to bed and not tellee, for 
weedur's sak', to keep the lattle boy from a' sike 
scoondrels while there's a harse to hoold in a' Lunnun, 
or a gootther to lie asleep in ! * Repeating these 
words with great heartiness, and with a solemnity on 
his jolly face that made it look twice as large as 
before, he shook hands and went away. I never saw 



86 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1838. 

him afterwards, but I sometimes imagine that I 
descry a faint reflection of him in John Browdie." 

In reference to these gentry, we may here quote a 
few words from the original preface to this book : — 

" It has afforded the Author great amusement 
and satisfaction, during the progress of this work, to 
learn, from country friends and from a variety of 
ludicrous statements concerning himself in provincial 
newspapers, that more than one Yorkshire school- 
master lays claim to being the original of Mr. 
Squeers. One worthy, he has reason to believe, has 
actually consulted authorities learned in the law, as to 
his having good grounds on which to rest an action 
for libel ; another, has meditated a journey to London, 
for the express purpose of committing an assault and 
battery on his traducer ; a third, perfectly remembers 
being waited on, last January twelve month, by two 
gentlemen, one of whom held him in conversation 
while the other took his likeness ; and, although Mr. 
Squeers has but one eye, and he has two, and the 
published sketch does not resemble him (whoever he 
may be) in any other respect, still he and all his 
friends and neighbours know at once for whom it is 
meant, because — the character is so like him." 

" Nicholas Nickleby " is not quite so popular as 
some of Dickens's other fictions, although it is cer- 
tainly not inferior to any of the other works of this 
illustrious author. The passages describing the deaths 
of Ralph Nickleby, and Gride the Miser, are dramatic 
in the highest degree, and inimitable as pieces of 



1838.] '* NICHOLAS NICKLEBY," 87 

powerful writing. John Browdie, with his hearty- 
laugh, and thoroughly English heart, will ever be an 
immense favourite. Dotheboys Hall and its tenants 
is a very sad history, and well might Dickens use his 
utmost endeavours to crush such an infamous hotbed 
of misery and torment. Who has not roared at the 
eccentricities of Mrs. Nickleby, especially in that 
memorable interview with the gentleman in the small 
clothes } 

It is said that the Brothers Grant, the wealthy 
cotton-mill owners of Manchester, were the proto- 
types of the Brothers Cheeryble ; both are now dead, 
the elder one dying in March, 1855. In the original, 
preface, Dickens having stated that they were por- 
traits from life, and were still living, in the preface 
to a later edition he said : — " If I were to attempt 
to sum up the hundreds of letters from all sorts of 
people, in all sorts of latitudes and climates, to which 
this unlucky paragraph has since given rise, I should 
get into an arithmetical difficulty from which I could 
not easily extricate myself Suffice it to say, that I 
believe the applications for loans, gifts, and offices of 
profit, that I have been requested to forward to the 
originals of the Brothers Cheeryble (with whom I 
never interchanged any communication in my life) 
would have exhausted the combined patronage of 
all the lord chancellors since the accession of the 
House of Brunswick, and would have broken the rest 
of the Bank of England." 

In Mr. Samuel Smiles's admirable " Self Help* 



88 LIFE OT CHARLES DICKENS. [1838. 

(the later editions) is recorded a very touching in- 
stance of the kindness and generosity of these gentle- 
men. However, it is too long to transfer to these pages. 

Long before the completion of "Nicholas Nic- 
kleby," Mr. Edward Stirling produced a dramatic 
version of it, and received, in consequence, a sharp 
reproof in the ensuing number. It was performed at 
the Adelphi, on November 19th, 1838, as a farce, in 
two acts ; Mr. O. Smith representing Newman 
•^oggs ; Mr. Yates, Mantalini ; and Mrs. Keeley, 
Smike. Another adaption was brought out at the 
Strand Theatre, under the title of " The Fortunes 
of Smike." As recently as the end of 1866, Mr. 
J. L. Toole made a great hit by doubling the parts of 
Squeers and Newman Noggs, when playing in the 
provinces with Mrs. Billington, who made a capital 
Mrs. Squeers, the termagant partner of the school- 
master. 

Sydney Smith, in a letter to Sir George Phillips, 
about September, 1838, wrote : — "* Nickleby ' is very 
good. I stood out against Mr. Dickens as long as I 
could, but he has conquered me." 

And Thomas Moore, in his Diary, under date April 
5, 1835, mentions dining at Messrs. Longmans, in 
Paternoster Row, the company consisting of Sydney 
Smith, Canon Tate, Merivale, Dionysius the Tyrant, 
McCulloch, and Hay ward (the translator of " Faust"). 
" Conversation turned on Boz, the new comic writer. 
Was sorry to hear Sydney cry him down, and evi- 
dently without having given him a fair trial. Whereas, 



1839-] ** NICHOLAS NICKLEBY." 89 

to me, it appears one of the few proofs of good taste 
that the * masses/ as they are called, have yet given, 
there being some as ' nice humour and fun in the 
* Pickwick Papers * as in any work I have seen in 
our day. Hayward, the only one of the party that 
stood by me in this opinion, engaged me for a dinner 
(at his chambers) on Thursday next." 

In the following year Sydney Smith had formed 
an acquaintance with Dickens, and we find him writ- 
ing to the author of " Nicholas Nickleby " : — 

" Nobody more — and more justly — talked of than 
yourself. The Miss Berrys, now at Richmond, live 
only to become acquainted with you, and have com- 
missioned me to request you to dine with them Friday, 
the 29th, or Monday, July 1st, to meet a Canon of 
St. Paul's, the Rector of Combe Florey, and the 
Vicar of Halberton, all equally well known to you ; 
to say nothing of other and better people. The Miss 
Berrys and Lady Charlotte Lindsay have not the 
smallest objection to be put into a number, but, on 
the contrary, would be proud of the distinction ; and 
Lady Charlotte, in particular, you may marry to 
Newman Noggs. Pray come ; it is as much as my 
place is worth to send a refusal." 

We have already given evidence of Thackeray's 
hearty appreciation of the author who has chronicled 
for us the adventures of " Oliver Twist." Later on, 
in Eraser's Magazine^ when commenting on the Royal 
Academy Exhibition, we find another interesting 
reference by Thackeray to Mr. Dickens, with a 



90 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1839. 

prophecy of his future greatness : — " Look (he says, 
in the assumed character of Michael Angelo 
Titmarsh) at the portrait of Mr. Dickens, — well 
arranged as a picture, good in colour and light and 
shadow, and as a likeness perfectly amazing ; a look- 
ing-glass could not render a better facsimile. Here 
we have the real identical man Dickens : the 
artist must have understood the inward * Boz* as 
well as the outward before he made this admirable 
representation of him. What cheerful intellectuality 
is about the man's eyes, and a large forehead ! The 
mouth is too large and full, too eager and active, 
perhaps ; the smile is very sweet and generous. If 
Monsieur de Balzac, that voluminous physiognomist, 
could examine this head, he would no doubt interpret 
every line and wrinkle in it — the nose firm and well 
placed, the nostrils wide and full, as are the nostrils 
of all men of genius (this is Monsieur Balzac's 
maxim). The past and the future, says Jean Paul, 
are written in every countenance. I think we may 
promise ourselves a brilliant future from this one. 
There seems no flagging as yet in it, no sense of 
fatigue, or consciousness of decaying power. Long 
mayest thou, O Boz ! reign over thy comic kingdom ; 
long may we pay tribute — whether of threepence 
weekly, or of a shilling monthly, it matters not 
Mighty prince! at thy imperial feet, Titmarsh, 
humblest of thy servants, offers his vows of loyalty 
and his humble tribute of praise," 

And lecturing on "Week-day Preachers," at St. 



m 



I839-40-] ** NICHOLAS NICKLEBY." 91 

Martin's Hall,* in aid of the Jerrold Fund, Thackeray 
spoke of the delight which children derived from 
reading the works of Mr. Dickens, and mentioned 
that one of his own children said to him that she 
wished he " would write stories like those which Mr. 
Dickens wrote. The same young lady," he con- 
tinued, " when she was ten years old, read ' Nicholas 
Nickleby ' morning, noon, and night, beginning it 
again as soon as she had finished it, and never 
wearying of its fun." 

Concerning the financial success of "Nicholas 
Nickleby," it may be mentioned that the late Mr. 
Tegg, the publisher, writing to \}i\t. Times ^ in February, 
1840, on copyrights, declared that the work produced 
the author ;^3,ooo. 

At the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1840, a 
fine portrait of Dickens, painted by his friend 
Daniel Maclise, was exhibited. This is the portrait 
to which Thackeray alludes in the preceding page. 
An engraving from it appeared in subsequent editions 
of " Nicholas Nickleby." 

* July, 1857. 



— -^ — 













"' '/i ■/ >'i^ \" j.^- v'v.;') '-rxj.?- vVc/ V 




CHAPTER VII. 

PUBLICATION OF "THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP " 
AND "BARNABY RUDGE." 

HE first number of " Master Humphrey's 
Clock" appeared on the 4th of April, 1840. 
Not content with the unexampled success 
which had attended the issue of " Nicholas Nickleby " 
in shilling numbers, the publisher conceived the mis- 
taken idea of altering the form of Mr. Dickens's new 
work. It was not to be in what is technically known 
as " demy octavo," at one shilling, but in ungainly 
" imperial octavo," and in weekly numbers, at three- 
pence each. Messrs. Cattermole and " Phiz " (Hablot 
K. Browne) had undertaken the illustrations, and the 
work proceeded, but it soon became a matter of 
policy, or rather of necessity, to revive the public in- 
terest ; and this was done by the resuscitation of Mr. 
Pickwick and of the two Wellers — father and son. 
Thus helped forward, the new work began to make 
its way steadily ; and the two principal tales, " The 
Old Curiosity Shop " and " Barnaby Rudge," are 
among the best and most popular of Mr. Dickens's 
stories. The work was published in a complete form 
in the following year by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. 
Eventually the author thought fit to separate the 



1840.] ''THE OLD CURIOSITV SHOP:' 93 

Stories, " and * Master Humphrey's Clock,' as origi- 
nally constructed," he mentions, " became one of the 
lost books of the earth — which, we all know, are far 
more precious than any that can be read for love or 
money." 

The " Old Curiosity Shop " is a splendid and 
touching story. Little Nelly is a beautiful and deli- 
cate creation ; so likewise is the poor schoolmaster, and 
his favourite scholar, who wrote so good a hand with 
such a very little one. We may here mention a 
curious fact, to which Mr. R. H. Home, in his " New 
Spirit of the Age," first directed attention. He says 
that the description of Nelly's death, if divided into 
lines, will form that species of gracefully irregular 
blank verse which Shelley and Southey often used. 
Here is a specimen: — 

" When Death strikes down the innocent and young. 
For every fragile form, from which he lets 
The panting spirit free, 
^ A hundred virtues rise. 
In shape of mercy, charity, and love. 
To walk the world and bless it. 
Of every tear 
That sorrowing nature sheds on such green graves. 
Some good is born, some gentler nature comes." 

Of that exquisitely beautiful creation, " little Nell," 
Mr. Dickens has himself remarked :— " I have a 
mournful pride in one recollection associated with 
'little Nell.' While she was yet upon her wander- 
ings, not thea concluded, there appeared in a literary 



94 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS, [184a 

journal an Essay, of which she was the principal 
theme, so earnestly, so eloquently, and tenderly 
appreciative of her, and of all her shadowy kith and 
kin, that it would have been insensibility in me if 
I could have read it without an unusual glow of 
pleasure and encouragement. Long afterwards, and 
when I had come to know him well, and see him, 
stout of heart, going slowly down into his grave, I 
knew the writer of that Essay to be Thomas Hood." 

In the course of this review. Hood took occasion 
to say of the author: — "The poor are his especial 
clients. He delights to show worth in low places — 
living up a court, for example, with Kit and the 
industrious washerwoman, his mother. To exhibit 
Honesty holding a gentleman's horse, or Poverty 
bestowing alms." 

Frasery in 1850, said, "We have been told that 
when the ' Old Curiosity Shop ' was drawing to a 
close, he received heaps of anonymous letters in 
female hands, imploring him * not to kill little Nell* 
The wretch ungallantly persisted in his murderous 
design ; and those gentle readers only wept, and 
forgave him." 

Dick Swiveller is a type and representative of a 
numerous class of young men, not absolutely vicious, 
but too lazy to work, and who lounge away their 
lives resorting to all manner of shifts and contrivances 
to exist, yet great at the clubs and meetings, as he 
was, as 

" Perpetual Grand of the Glorious Apollos." 



i840.] '*BARNABY RUDGE." 95 

Quilp is, perhaps, the most carefully elaborated 
and highly finished character of all — a Caliban and 
wretch, never more delighted than when inflicting 
pain on his meek wife, Mrs. Jiniwin, his mother-in- 
law, or that fawning, white-livered hound, Sampson 
Brass, the attorney of Bevis Marks. To comment 
further would be to pass a glowing eulogium on every 
other character in the book. It was dedicated to his 
friend Samuel Rogers, the Banker Poet. 

" Barnaby Rudge " is a history of the notorious 
"No Popery" riots of 1780, which had hitherto not 
formed the subject of, or been introduced into, any 
work of fiction. The tale abounds in vigorous de- 
scriptions of the chief misguided actor. Lord George 
Gordon, and the dreadful scenes that ensued. The 
sketches of Old Willett, at the Maypole, at Chigwell, 
and the courtship of Joe Willett and Dolly Varden, 
are unsurpassed ; Sir Edward Chester evidently 
being intended for the celebrated Lord Chesterfield, 
the decorously polite but heartless author of a worth- 
less book entitled " Lord Chesterfield's Letters to his 
Son." 

" Will" (writes a friend of the late novelist) " a great 
living painter of English manners, Mr. W. P. Frith, 
forgive an allusion to the early days when the success 
of his admirable picture of 'Dolly Varden' led Charles 
Dickens to call on him, and, after expressing the 
warmest thanks for the feeling and appreciation 
which the artist's handiwork displayed, to give him a 
commission for other subjects, to be selected from 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS, 



[1840 



the works of ' Boz ? ' Dickens," continues the writer, 
"wanted on canvas, and in hues which should Hve, 
the young artist's conception of the imaginary people 
with whose characteristics England was ringing. His 
hearty approval of the pictures, when painted, his 
personal introduction of himself to thank the artist, 
and his cheque, with the well-known signature, the 
' C ' rather like a ' G,' and the elaborate flourish be- 
neath it, exactly as it is given outside the last ealtion 
of his works, are, we venture to say, like things of 
yesterday to Mr. Frith." 

It is doubtful if the illustrious author of " Barnaby 
Rudge " ever knew that the genial Tom Hood — for 
whom Dickens always had the greatest admiration, 
we may almost say affection — once wrote an ex- 
quisitely beautiful account of that work, as well as 
of " The Old Curiosity Shop." We know it as a 
fact, and the reader can judge for himself whether 
Hood was not the man, above all others, to appreciate 
Dickens. The reviewer says : — " The first chapter 
pleasantly plants us, not in Cato Street, but on the 
borders of Epping Forest, at an ancient ruddy 
Elizabethan inn, with a maypole for its sign, an 
antique porch, quaint chimneys, and *more gable-ends 
than a crazy man would care to count on a sunny 
day.' The ornamented eaves are haunted by twitter- 
ing swallows, and the distorted roof is mobbed by 
clusters of cooing pigeons. Then for its landlord : 
there is old John Willett, as square and as slow as a 
tortoise ; and for its parlour customers, Long Parks, 



w 



1840.] DICKENS'S RAVENS. ' 97 

Tom Cobb, both taciturn and profound smokers ; 
and Solomon Daisy, that parochial Argus, studded 
all down his rusty black coat, and his long flapped 
waistcoat, with little queer buttons, like nothing ex- 
cept his eyes, but so like them, that as they twinkled 
and glistened in the light of the fire, which shone too 
in his bright shoe-buckles, he seemed all eyes from 
head to foot." 

As illustrative of Mr. Dickens's love of animals — 
of ravens in particular — we may here be permitted to 
give his own remarks in a preface to the cheap edition 
of this work : — " As it is Mr. Waterton's opinion that 
ravens are gradually becoming extinct in England, 
I offer a few words here about mine. 

" The raven in this story is a compound of two 
great originals, of whom I have been, at different 
times, the proud possessor. The first was in the 
bloom of his youth, when he was discovered in a 
modest retirement, in London, by a friend of mine, 
and given to me. He had from the first, as Sir Hugh 
Evans says of Anne Page, 'good gifts,' which he 
improved by study and attention in a most exemplary 
manner. He slept in a stable — generally on horse- 
back — and so terrified a Newfoundland dog by his 
preternatural sagacity, that he has been known, by 
the mere superiority of his genius, to walk off un- 
molested with the dog's dinner from before his face. 
He was rapidly rising in acquirements and virtues, 
when, in an evil hour, his stable was newly painted. 
He observed the workmen closely, saw that they were 

G 



98 ' LIFE OF CHARLES piCKENS. [1840. 

careful of the paint, and immediately burned to 
possess it. On their going to dinner, he ate up all 
they had left behind, consisting of a pound or two of 
white lead ; and this youthful indiscretion terminated 
in death. 

" While I was yet inconsolable for his loss, another 
friend of mine in Yorkshire discovered an older and 
more gifted raven at a village public-house, which he 
prevailed upon the landlord to part with for a con- 
sideration, and sent up to me. The first act of this 
Sage was, to administer to the effects of his prede- 
cessor, by disinterring all the cheese and halfpence he 
had buried in the garden — a work of immense labour 
and research, to which he devoted all the energies of 
his mind. When he had achieved this task, he applied 
I himself to the acquisition of stable language, in which 

I he soon became such an adept, that he would perch 

i outside my window and drive imaginary horses with 

[ great skill, all day. Perhaps even I never saw him at 

i his best, for his former master sent his duty with him, 

' ' and if I wished the bird to come out very strong, 

would I be so good as to show him a drunken man ' — 
, which I never did, having (fortunately) none but 

i sober people at hand. But I could hardly have 

respected him more, whatever the stimulating in- 
I fluences of this sight might have been. He had not 

the slightest respect, I am sorry to say, for me in 
return, or for anybody but the cook ; to whom he was 
attached — but only, I fear, as a policeman might 
have been. Once, I met him unexpectedly, about 



1840.] DICKENS'S RAVENS. 99 

half a mile off, walking down the middle of the public 
street, attended by a pretty large crowd, and spon- 
taneously exhibiting the whole of his accomplishments. 
His gravity under those trying circumstances I never 
can forget, nor the extraordinary gallantry with 
which, refusing to be brought home, he defended 
himself behind a pump, until overpowered by numbers. 
It may have been that he was too bright a genius to 
live long, or it may have been that he took some 
pernicious substance into his bill, and thence into his 
maw — which is not improbable, seeing that he new- 
pointed the greater part of the garden wall by digging 
out the mortar, broke countless squares of glass by 
scraping away the putty all round the frames, and 
tore up and swallowed, in splinters, the greater part 
of a wooden staircase of six steps and a landing — but 
after some three years he too was taken ill, and died 
before the kitchen fire. He kept his eye to the last 
upon the meat as it roasted, and suddenly turned 
over on his back with a sepulchral cry of * Cuckoo ! * 
Since then I have been ravenless." 

It is just worth while to remark, in connection with 
this fondness for ravens, that a personal friend, a 
bad punster, being at a party, and remarking on the 
mania Dickens seemed to have for these birds, said, 
" Dickens is raven mad!' This, being repeated, gave 
rise to a report, which was industriously spread by 
his detractors, that " Dickens was raving mad," and 
"was confined in a madhouse," and other silly 
rumours. 

G 2 



lOO LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1840. 

"Barnaby Rudge" expressed the author's abhor- 
rence to capital punishment, on the principle enunci- 
ated by Pistol, in Shakspeare's " King Henry V." : — 

** Let gallows gape for dog, let man go free. 
And let not hemp his wind-pipe suffocate." 

The pathetic scene of the grey-headed old father 
following the dead body of his only son, merely to 
touch the lifeless hand of the boy so unjustly hung, 
also reminds one of Shakspeare's lines: — 

" If I put out thy light, thou flaming minister, 
I can restore it, should I repent me ; 
But once put out thy light, thou cunning'st pattern of excelling 

nature, 
I know not that Promethean heat that can thy light relume.** 

Some London publisher, about this time, having 
issued imitations or piracies of some of Dickens's 
former works and titles, Thomas Hood, writing to 
tho. AthencBum (June, 1842) on " Copyright and Copy- 
wrong," speaks of a conversation he had had with 
a bookseller on a spurious " Master Humphrey's 
Clock." 

" Sir," said the bookseller, " if you had observed 
the name, it was Bos, not Boz — s, sir, not z ; and, be- 
sides, it would have been no piracy, sir, even with 
the z, because ' Master Humphrey's Clock,' you see, 
sir, was not published as by Boz, but by Charles 
Dickens ! " 

In the summer of 1841, a dramatized version of 
the story, by Charles Selby, was produced at the 



1840-41.] "BARNABY RUDGE" DRAMATIZED. lox 

Lyceum, and other versions appeared about the same 
time at various theatres. More recently, on Novem- 
ber 13th, 1866, it was put on the stage at the 
Princess's, by Messrs. Vining and Watts Phillips, as 
a four-act drama, Miss Rodgers playing Barnaby 
Rudge, Mrs. John Wood Miss Miggs, Mr. Shore Sir 
John Chester. A newspaper critic, speaking of Mrs. 
Wood's performance, observed : — " If any one ex- 
pected the subdued cough, the small groan, the sigh, 
the sniff, the spasmodic start, and the constant rub- 
bing and tweaking of the nose to which Miss Miggs 
had recourse in the frequent moments of her vexa- 
tion, would have been reproduced by Mrs. John 
Wood in illustration of the novelist's description, 
they must have overlooked the peculiarities of that 
liberty-loving country from which the debutante has 
just come, after a sojourn of some twelve years. It is 
quite apparent that Mrs. John Wood has been in the 
habit of representing Miss Miggs repeatedly on the 
other side the Atlantic, in a version which has 
been doubtless made by some patriotic American, 
who believed that the Declaration of Independence 
secured the right of departing as far as possible from 
the intentions of the British author. The Miss Miggs 
who appeared last evening on the stage of the Prin- 
cess's is a ' Yankee gal ' of the familiar down-east 
pattern, who sings one of the high-toned ditties 
characteristic of her class, mixes up grotesque panto- 
mime extravagances with nasal inflections and an- 
gular attitudes, and thinks nothing of sprawling on 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1841. 



tables and tumbling into tubs. Nor, in personal 
appearance, will the good-looking, though coarse- 
mannered, companion of Mrs. Varden at all corre- 
spond to the portraiture which was also so long 
identified with one of the principal figures in * Master 
Humphrey's Clock.' The double disappointment 
thus experienced found audible expression in the 
course of the performance, and drew the customary 
expostulation of a first night from Mr. Vining, who 
took the opportunity of a call at the end of the third 
act to address the audience. * On the present occa- 
sion,' observed Mr. Vining, ' I do not appear before 
you as an actor ; but from a private box I have seen 
that a determination to hiss this piece from its com- 
mencement has been apparent on the part of a few 
persons among the audience. I have watched for an 
expression of public opinion. If you have seen any- 
thing which deserved hissing, hiss away — (cheers) — 
but some, to the degradation of their manhood, have 
hissed a lady who was a stranger in the land.' " Mr. 
George Honey was afterwards substituted to play the 
part, and the piece ran until January following. 

That our author, about this time, was busy in 
" society " as well as in literature, we have good 
evidence from the examples of his correspondence 
which exist in contemporary biography. With the 
Countess of Blessington he had been acquainted for 
some time. On one occasion Dickens fell in with a 
remarkable clairvoyant — a " magnetic boy," as he is 
styled, and our author thus writes to the Countess : — 



1841.] " 1HE PIC-NIC PAPERS." 103 

" Have you seen Townsend's magnetic boy ? You 
heard of him, no doubt, from Count d'Orsay. If you 
get him to Gore House, don't, I entreat you, have 
more than eight people — four is a better number — to 
see him. He fails in a crowd, and is marvellotis 
before a few. I am told, that down in Devonshire 
there are young ladies innumerable who read crabbed 
manuscripts with the palms of their hands, and who, 
so to speak, are literary all over. I begin to under- 
stand what a blue-stocking means ; and have not the 

slightest doubt that Lady ^ for instance, could 

write quite as entertaining a book with the sole of her 
foot as ever she did with her head. I am a believer 
in earnest, and I am sure you would be if you saw 
this boy, under moderately favourable circumstances, 
as I hope you will before he leaves England." * 

It was about this time that " The Pic-nic Papers," 
"by various hands," and edited by Dickens, was 
issued by Mr. Henry Colburn, in three volumes, 
with illustrations by George Cruikshank. The 
work was the result of a series of literary con- 
tributions in aid of the family of Mr. Macrone, 
who had just died. He was described in the 
preface as "A publisher who died prematurely 
young, and in the prime and vigour of his years, 
before he had time or opportunity to make any pro- 
vision for his wife and infant children, and at the 
moment when his prospects were the brightest, and 

* Madden's " Life of Lady Blessington,*' June, 1841. 



^ 



104 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1841. 

the difficulties of his enterprise were nearly over- 
come." The editor led off with " The Lamplighter's 
Story." The contributors comprised Messrs. Talfourd, 
Thomas Moore, W. H. Maxwell, Leitch Ritchie, 
Michael Honan, John Forster, Allan Cunningham, 
and W. Harrison Ainsworth. The l)ook served the 
purpose it was intended for, and realized a large 
sum. It is now seldom read, and then more for the 
editor's tale than for anything else contained in it. 

In the July of this year (1841) a public dinner 
in honour of Dickens took place at Edinburgh, and 
went off with great eclat^ Professor Wilson (the cele- 
brated " Christopher North") presiding.* 

* Mr. Dickens's speech upon this occasion is given in the 
great novelist's collected " Speeches," recently published. 



■e-e^g^S^^^^s^ 



CHAPTER VIII. 



DICKENS'S VISIT TO AMERICA. 




ONG before he fixed any date for his depar- 
ture, Dickens had promised Washington 
Irving, and many other correspondents in 
America, that he would come and see them. The 
progress of " Oliver Twist," " Nicholas Nickleby," 
and other works, however, delayed the event, and 
many of his English admirers did all that lay in 
their power to keep him at home. " Worked hard," 
says poor Haydon, the painter, in his Diary, under 
date December lOth ; " Talfourd said he introduced 
Dickens to Lady Holland. She hated the Ameri- 
cans, and did not want Dickens to go. 

" She said, * Why cannot you go down to Bristol, 
and see some of the third or fourth-class people, and 
they '11 do just as well ?' " 

And the genial Thomas Hood, in his article on 
" Barnaby Rudge," after lamenting the temporary 
loss of Dickens, thus excuses his absence : — " Avail- 
ing himself of the pause for a little well-earned rest 
and recreation, the author, it appears, has sailed on a 
long projected trip to America ; or, according to Mr. 
Weller, senior, has ' made away with hisself to an- 



io6 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [184a. 

other, though not a better, world/ though it's called a 
new one. In fact he is, we hope, paddling prosper- 
ously across the Atlantic, whilst we are sitting down 
to criticise the characters he has left behind him in 
his ' Barnaby Rudge.' " 

To another journal Hood sent these lines : — 

TO C. DICKENS, ESQ^ 
On his Departure for America. 

** Pshaw ! away with leaf and berry. 

And the sober-sided cup ! 
Bring a goblet, and bright sherry. 

And a bumper fill me up ! 
Though a pledge I had to shiver. 

And the longest ever was, 
Ere his vessel leaves our river, 

I would drink a health to Boz ! 
Here's success to all his antics. 

Since it pleases him to roam, 
And to paddle o'er Atlantics, 

After such a sale at home ! 
May he shun all rocks whatever. 

And each shallow sand that lurks, 
And his passage be as clever 

As the best among his works !" 

It was on the 3rd of January, 1842, that our 
author and his wife left England for the United 
States. They went to Liverpool, and crossed the 
Atlantic in the Britannia steam-packet, Captain 
Hewett. The result of this trip was the publication, 



184a.] DICKENS'S VISIT TO AMERICA. 107 

by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, in October of the 
same year, of "American Notes for General Circu- 
lation," in two volumes, with a frontispiece by Clark- 
son Stanfield, R.A. 

The dedication was as follows : — 

" i dedicate this book 

to those friends of mine in america, 

Who, 

Giving me a welcome I must ever gratefully and proudly 

remember, 

Left my judgment 

FREE; 

And who, loving their country, 

Can bear the truth, when it is told good humouredly, 

and in a kind spirit." 

The publication, however, gave great offence to our 
author's American readers, and, as he might have 
foreseen, he got abused and vilified most unmercifully. 
Judge Haliburton (" Sam Slick "), in one of his 
works, alluding to the fetes and receptions given to 
Dickens, said that, on his homeward passage, he had 
suffered severely from sea-sickness, and all the kind- 
ness he had experienced had been cast overboard. 

Whether Dickens had in his mind's eye the advice 
tendered by old Weller to Sam, when he proposed 
having a " planner " to carry Mr, Pickwick from the 
Fleet Prison, is uncertain : — 

" There ain't no vurks in it," whispered his father. 
" It 'uU hold him easy, with his hat and shoes on, 
and breathe through the legs, vich is holler. Have a 
passage ready taken for 'Merriker. The 'Merrikin 



io8 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1842 

gov'ment vill never give him up, ven they finds as 
he 's got money to spend, Sammy. Let the gov'ner 
stop there till Mrs. Bardell 's dead, or Mr. Dodson 
and Fogg's hung, which last ewent I think is the 
most likely to happen first, Sammy ; and then let 
him come back and write a book about the 'Merrikins 
as '11 pay all his expenses and more, if he blows 'em 
up enough." 

Emerson, in " The Conduct of Life " (in the Essay 
on " Behaviour "), writes : — 

" Charles Dickens self-sacrificingly undertook the 
reformation of our American manners in unspeakable 
particulars. I think the lesson was not quite lost ; 
that it held bad manners up, so that the churls could 
see the deformity. Unhappily, the book has its own 
deformities. It ought not to need to print in a 
reading-room a caution- to strangers not to speak 
loud ; nor to persons who look over fine engravings, 
that they should be handled like cobwebs and butter- 
flies* wings ; nor to persons who look at marble 
statues, that they shall not smite them with their 
canes." 

In publishing a new edition of " American Notes," 
in 1850, Dickens, in the preface, urged that "pre- 
judiced I have never been, otherwise than in favour 

of the United States To represent me 

as viewing it with ill-nature, animosity, or partisan- 
ship, is merely to do a very foolish thing, which is 
always a very easy one, and which I have disregarded 
for eight years, and could disregard for eighty more." 



i842.] DICKENSS VISIT TO AMERICA, 109 

Whatever Transatlantic critics may have thought 
of the work, Lord Jeffrey, on the appearance of the 
first edition, wrote the author a letter, in which he 
says, *' A thousand thanks for your charming book, 
and for all the pleasure, profit, and relief it has 
afforded me. You have been very tender to our 
sensitive friends beyond the sea, and really said 
nothing which will give any serious offence to any 
moderately rational patriot amongst them. The 
slaversy of course, will give you no quarter, and of 

course you did not expect they would 

Your account of the silent or solitary imprisonment 
system is as pathetic and as powerful a piece of 
writing as I have ever seen, and your sweet airy little 
snatch of the little woman taking her new babe home 
to her young husband,* and your manly and feeling 
appeal in behalf of the poor Irish, or rather the affec- 
tionate poor of all races and tongues, who are patient 
and tender to their children, under circumstances 
which would make half the exemplary parents 
among the rich monsters of selfishness and dis- 
content, remind us that we have still among us the 
creator of Nelly and Smike, and the schoolmaster 
and his dying pupil, and must continue to win for 
you still more of that homage of the heart, that love 
and esteem of the just and the good, which, though 
it should never be disjoined from them, sJioiild^ I 

* See Chapter XII. " American Notes." A very finished 
and beautiful little incident, related in that natural and truthful 
manner in which Dickens excels all other writers. 



no LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS, [1842. 

think you must already feel, be better than fortune 
or fame." 

Very recently it has been made known that poor 
Tom Hood, almost immediately upon its appearance, 
reviewed the work, under the title of " Boz in Ame- 
rica." In his happiest vein of drollery, he conjectures 
that it would be impossible for Mr. Boz to go to 
" the States " without losing all his English charac- 
teristics, and returning to his friends a regular 
Down-East Yankee : — " So strong, indeed, was this 
impression, that certain blue-stockinged prophetesses 
even predicted a new Avater of the celebrated Mr, 
Pickwick, in slippers and loose trousers, a nankeen 
jacket, and a straw hat as large as an umbrella. 
Sam Weller was to re-appear as his * help,' instead of 
a footman, still full of droll sayings, but in a slang 
more akin to his namesake, the Clock-maker : while 
Weller, senior, was to revive on the box of a Boston 
long stage — only calling himself Jonathan, instead 
of Tony, and spelling it with a G. A Virginian 
Widow Bardell was as a matter of course ; and 
some visionaries even foresaw a slave-owning Mr. 
Snodgrass, a coon-hunting Mr. Winkle, a wide-awake 
Joe, and a forest-clearing Bob Sawyer.* But, upon 
the appearance of the book itself," continues Hood, 
" the romanticists were in despair, and reluctantly 

* " With the wishes of these admirers of Boz we can in some 
degree sympathize ; for what could be a greater treat, in the 
reading way, than the perplexities of a squatting Mr. Pickwick, 
or a settling Mrs. Nickleby ? " 



r\ 



X842.] DICKENS'S VISIT TO AMERICA. m 

abandoned all hopes of a Pennsylvanian Nicholas 
Nickleby, affectionately darning his mother — a New 
Yorkshire Mr. Squeers, flogging creation — a black 
Smike — a brown Kate — and a Bostonian Newman 
Noggs, alternately swallowing a cocktail and a 
cobbler." 

Professor Felton, alluding to the death of Washing- 
ton Irving, in a speech, in the latter part of the year 
i^59> gave this interesting reminiscence of the friend- 
ship existing between Dickens and Irving : — 

*' The time when I saw the most of Mr. Irving was 
in the winter of 1 842, during the visit of Mr. Charles 
Dickens in New York. I had known this already 
distinguished writer in Boston and Cambridge, and, 
while passing some weeks with my dear and lamented 
friend, Albert Sumner, I renewed my acquaintance 
with Mr. Dickens, often meeting him in the brilliant 
literary society which then made New York a most 
agreeable resort. Halleck, Bryant, Washington 
Irving, Davis, and others, scarce less attractive by 
their genius, wit, and social graces, constituted a 
circle not to be surpassed anywhere in the world. 
I passed much of the time with Mr. Irving and Mr. 
Dickens, and it was delightful to witness the cordial 
intercourse of the young man, in the flush and glory of 
his youthful genius, and his elder compeer, then in the 
assured possession of immortal renown. Dickens said, 
in his frank hearty manner, that, from his childhood, 
he had known the works of Irving ; and that, before 
he thought of coming to this country, he had received 



112 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1842. 

a letter from him, expressing the delight he felt in 
reading the story of * Little Nell;' and from that 
day they had shaken hands aiitographically across the 
Atlantic." 

After Professor Felton's reminiscences, it may not 
be uninteresting to quote the following extract from 
a letter written by Washington Irving to his niece 
(Mrs. Storrow), under date May 25, 1841, in which he 
mentions a letter he had just received from Dickens, 
in reply to one from himself : — 

" And now comes the third letter from that glo- 
rious fellow, Dickens (Boz), in reply to the one I 
wrote, expressing my heartfelt delight with his 
writings, and my yearnings towards himself. See 
how completely we sympathize in feeling : — 

" * There is no man in the world,' replies Dickens, 
' who could have given me the heartfelt pleasure you 
have by your kind note of the 13th of last month. 
There is no living writer, and there are very few 
among the dead, whose approbation I should feel so 
proud to earn ; and, with everything you have written 
upon my shelves, and in my thoughts, and in my 
heart of hearts, I may honestly and truly say so. If 
you could know how earnestly I write this, you would 
be glad to read it — as I hope you wall be, faintly 
guessing at the warmth of the hand I autographically 
hold out to you over the broad Atlantic. 

" * I wish I could find in your welcome letter some 
hint of an intention to visit England. I can't. I 
have held it at arm's length, and taken a bird's-eye 






1842.] DICKENS'S VISIT TO AMERICA. 113 

view of it, after reading it a great many times; but 
there is no greater encouragement in it, this way, 
than on a microscopic inspection. I should love to 
go with you — as I have gone, God knows how often 
— into Little Britain, and Eastcheap, and Green 
Arbour Court, and Westminster Abbey. I should 
like to travel with you, outside the last of the 
coaches, down to Bracebridge Hall. It would make 
my heart glad to compare notes with you about that 
shabby gentleman in the oil-cloth hat and red nose, 
who sat in the nine-cornered back parlour of the 
Mason's Arms ; and about Robert Preston, and the 
tallow-chandler's widow, whose sitting-room is second 
nature to me ; and about all those delightful places 
and people that I used to walk about and dream of 
in the daytime, when a very small and not-over- 
particularly-taken-care-of boy. I have a good deal 
to say, too, about that dashing Alonzo de Ojeda, that 
you can't help being fonder of than you ought to be; 
&nd much to hear concerning Moorish legend, and 
poor unhappy Boabdil. Diedrich Knickerbocker I 
have worn to death in my pocket, and yet I should 
show you his mutilated carcase with a joy past all 
expression. 

" * I have been so accustomed to associate you with 
my pleasantest and happiest thoughts, and with my 
leisure hours, that I rush at once into fuU' confidence 
with you, and fall, as it were naturally, and by the 
very laws of gravity,- into your open arms. Questions 
come thronging to my pen as to the lips of people 

H 



114 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1842. 



who meet after long hoping to do so. I don't know 
what to say first, or what to leave unsaid, and am 
constantly disposed to break off and tell you again 
how glad I am this moment has arrived. 

*' * My dear Washington Irving, I cannot thank you 
enough for your cordial and generous praise, or tell 
you what deep and lasting gratification it has given 
me. I hope to have many letters from you, and to 
exchange a frequent correspondence. I send this to 
say so. After the first two or three, I shall settle 
down into a connected style, and become gradually 
rational. 

" * You know what the feeling is, after having written 
a letter, sealed it, and sent it off. I shall picture you 
reading this, and answering it, before it has lain one 
night in the post-office. Ten to one that before the 
fastest packet could reach New York I shall be 
writing again. 

"'Do you suppose the post-ofiEice clerks care to 
receive letters } I have my doubts. They get into 
a dreadful habit of indifference. A postman, I 
imagine, is quite callous. Conceive his delivering 
one to himself, without being startled by a prelimi- 
nary double knock ! ' " 

Irving, writing again to Mrs. Storrow, 29th of 
October following, says : — 

" What do you think ? Dickens is. actually coming 
to America. He has engaged passage for himself 
and his wife in the steam-packet for Boston, for the 
4th of January next. He says : ' I look fonvard to 



1842.] DICKENS'S VISIT TO AMERICA. X15 

shaking hands with you, with an interest I cannot 
(and I would not if I could) describe. You can 
imagine, I dare say, something of the feelings with 
which I look forward to being in America. I can 
hardly believe I am coming.' " 

But to return to Professor Felton and his recollec- 
tions of Irving and Dickens. He continues : — 

" Great and varied as was the genius of Mr. Irving, 
there was one thing he shrank with a comical terror 
from attempting, and that was a dinner speech. A 
great dinner, however, was to be given to Mr. Dickens 
in New York, as one had already been given in 
Boston, and it was evident to all that no man like 
Washington Irving could be thought of to preside. 
With all his dread of making a speech, he was 
obliged to obey the universal call, and to accept the 
painful pre-eminence. I saw him daily during the 
interval of preparation, either at the lodgings of 
Dickens, or at dinner, or at evening parties. I hoped 
I showed no want of sympathy with his forebodings, 
but I could not help being amused with his tragi- 
comical distress Avhich the thought of that approach- 
ing dinner had caused him. His pleasant humour 
mingled with the real dread, and played with the 
whimsical horrors of his own position with an irre- 
sistible drollery. Whenever it was alluded to, his 
invariable answer was, ' I shall certainly break down ! ' — 
uttered in a half-melancholy tone, the ludicrous effect 
of which it is impossible to describe. He was haunted, 
as if by a nightmare ; and I could only compare 

H 2 



ii6 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKEN&, [184a. 

his dismay to that of Mr. Pickwick, who was so 
alarmed at the prospect of leading about that 
'dreadful horse' all day. At length the long- 
expected evening arrived. A company of the most 
eminent persons, from all the professions and every 
walk of life, were assembled, and Mr. Irving took 
the chair. I had gladly accepted an invitation, 
making it, however, a condition that I should not 
be called upon to speak — a thing I then dreaded 
quite as much as Mr. Irving himself. The direful 
compulsions of life have since helped me to over- 
come, in some measure, the post-prandial fright. 
Under the circumstances — an invited guest, with no 
impending speech — I sat calmly and watched with 
interest the imposing scene. I had the honour to be 
placed next but one to Mr. Irving, and the great 
pleasure of sharing in his conversation. He had 
brought the manuscript of his speech, and laid it 
under his plate. ' I shall certainly break down,' he 
repeated over and over again. At last the moment 
arrived. Mr. Irving rose, and was received with 
deafening and long-continued applause, which by no 
means lessened his apprehension. He began in his 
pleasant voice ; got through two or three sentences 
pretty easily, but in the next hesitated ; and, after 
one or two attempts to go on, gave it up, with a 
graceful allusion to the tournament, and the troop of 
knights all armed and eager for the fray ; and ended 
with the toast, ' Charles Dickens, the guest of the 
nation.' 'There!' said he, as he resumed his seat 



1842.] DICKENS'S VISIT TO AMERICA, 117 

under a repetition of the applause which had saluted 
his rising, — ' there ! I told you I should break down, 
and I 've done it' 

" There certainly never was a shorter after-dinner 
speech ; and I doubt if there ever was a more 
successful one. The manuscript seemed to be a dozen 
or twenty pages long, but the printed speech was not 
as many lines. 

" Mr. Irving often spoke with a good-humoured 
envy of the felicity with which Dickens always 
acquitted himself on such occasions." * 

* This speech is given in " The Speeches of Charles Dickens," 
recently published. Thomas Moore, in his Diary, speaking of 
running up to London to act as steward of the Literary Fund 
Dinner at the Freemasons' Tavern, H.R.H. The Prince Con- 
sort acting as chairman, says: — "M^j wth, 1842. — By the 
bye, Irving had yesterday come to Murray's with the determi- 
nation, as I found, not to go to the dinner, and all begged of me 
to use my influence with him to change this resolution. But he 
told me his mind was made up on the point, that the drinking 
his health, and the speech he would have to make in return, 
were more than he durst encounter ; that he had broken down 
at the Dickens Dinner (of which he was chairman) in America, 
and obliged to stop short in the middle of his oration, which 
made him resolve not to encounter another such accident. In 
vain did I represent to him that a few words would be quite 
sufficient in returning thanks. * That Dickens Dinner,' which 
he always pronounced with strong emphasis, hammering away 
all the time with his right arm, more suo, * that Dickens Dinner ' 
still haunted his imagination, and I almost gave up all hope of 
persuading him." The arguments proved irresistible, and Irving 
went to it. 



[i8 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1843. 



Immediately after the dinner, Irving and Dickens 
started off together to Washington, to spend a few 
days, and there took leave of one another. Irving at 
this time having just received his appointment as 
Minister to Spain, Dickens wrote to him : — " We 
passed through — literally passed through — this place 
again to-day. I did not come to see you, for I really 
had not the heart to say good-bye again, and I felt 
more than I can tell you when we shook hands last 
Wednesday. You will not be at Baltimore, I fear ? 
I thought, at the time, that you only said you might 
be there, to make our parting the gayer. 

" Wherever you go, God bless you ! What pleasure 
I have had in seeing and talking with you, I will not 
attempt to say. I shall never forget it as long as I 
live. What would I give, if we could have a quiet 
walk together ! Spain is a lazy place, and its climate 
an indolent one. But if you have ever leisure under 
its sunny skies to think of a man who loves you, and 
holds communion with your spirit oftener, perhaps, 
than any other person alive — leisure from listlessness, 
I mean — and will write to me in London, you will 
give me an inexpressible amount of pleasure." 

Dickens took the opportunity, in a number of All 
the Year Round, March, 1862 (when the song "A 
Young Man from the Country" was very popular, 
and which suggested the article), to remark that 
what he had originally written about the United 
States had been fully borne out in the recent events 
in that great republic. 




CHAPTER IX. 



FURTHER AMERICAN EXPERIENCES. 




iN 1848 there appeared a new edition of an 
extensive and important work on " Prison 
Discipline." The author was the Rev. John 
Field, Chaplain of the County Gaol at Reading, in 
Berkshire, and well known in literary circles as the 
author of a "Life of John Howard, the Philanthro- 
pist," and editor of the " Howard Correspondence." 
This work on prison discipline had attracted consi- 
derable attention, and as the author, in advocating 
the advantages of the separate system of imprison- 
ment, took occasion to mention Mr. Dickens's re- 
marks in his " American Notes " spon the Solitary 
Prison at Philadelphia, the latter felt it his duty to 
reply : — 

" As Mr. Field condescends to quote some vapour- 
ings about the account given by Mr. Charles Dickens 
in his ' American Notes ' of the Solitary Prison at 
Philadelphia, he may perhaps really wish for some 
few words of information on the subject. For this 
purpose Mr. Charles Dickens has referred to the entry 
in his Diary, made at the close of that day. 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1842. 



" He left his hotel for the prison at twelve o'clock; 
being waited on, by appointment, by the gentleman 
who showed it to him, and he returned between 
seven and eight at night ; dining in the prison in the 
course of that time ; which, according to his calcula- 
tion, in despite of the Philadelphia newspaper, rather 
exceeded two hours. He found the prison admirably 
conducted, extremely clean, and the system adminis- 
tered in a most intelligent, kind, orderly, tender, and 
careful manner. He did not consider (nor should 
he, if he were to visit Pentonville to-morrow) that 
the book in which visitors were expected to record 
their observations of the place was intended for the 
insertion of criticisms on the system, but for honest 
testimony to the manner of its administration, and 
to that he bore, as an impartial visitor, the highest 
testimony in his power. In returning thanks for his 
health being drunk, at the dinner within its walls, he 
said that what he had seen that day was running 
in his mind ; that he could not help reflecting on 
it ; and that it was an awful punishment. If the 
American officer who rode with him afterwards 
should ever see these words, he will perhaps recall 
his conversation with Mr. Dickens on the road, as to 
Mr. Dickens having said so, very plainly, and very 
strongly. In reference to the ridiculous assertion 
that Mr. Dickens in his book termed a woman 'quite 
beautiful ' who was a negress, he positively believes 
that he was shown no negress in the prison, but one 
who was nursing a woman much diseased, and to 



1842.] FURTHER AMERICAN EXPERIENCES. 121 

whom no reference whatever is made in his published 
account. In describing three young women, * all 
convicted at the same time of a conspiracy,' he may, 
possibly, among many cases, have substituted in his 
mepiory, for one of them whom he did not see, some 
other prisoner, confined for some other crime, whom 
he did see ; but he has not the least doubt of having 
been guilty of the (American) enormity of detecting 
beauty in the passive quadroon or mulatto girl, or of 
having seen exactly what he describes ; and he re- 
members the girl more particularly described in this 
connection perfectly. Can Mr. Field really suppose 
Mr. Dickens had any interest or purpose in misre- 
presenting the system, or that, if he could be guilty 
of such unworthy conduct, or desire to do it anything 
but justice, he could have volunteered the narrative 
of a man's having, of his own, choice, undergone it 
for two years t 

"We will not notice the objection of Mr. Field 
(who strengthens the truth of Mr. Burns to nature, 
by the testimony of Mr. Pitt ! ) to the discussion of 
such a topic as the present in a work of ' mere amuse- 
ment ;' though we had thought we remembered in that 
book a word or two about slavery, which, although a 
very amusing, can scarcely be considered an unmi- 
tigatedly comic theme. We are quite content to 
believe, without seeking to make a convert of the 
Reverend Mr. Field, that no work need be one of 
* mere amusement,' and that some works to which he 
would apply that designation have done a little good 



122 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS, [1842. 

in advancing principles to which, we hope and will 
believe, for the credit of his Christian office, he is not 
indifferent." 

However, all these disputes and " angry recollec- 
tions" of the America of 1842, were finally dis- 
posed of by Mr. Dickens on his arrival home after a 
second visit to that great country. At the end of 
this little Memoir we give the great novelist's public 
testimony of the change in his experiences of 
America, with the "Postscript" which he then declared 
should for ever after continue to form a part of any 
new edition of " American Notes." 

One of the prime objects " in Mr. Dickens's visit 
to our Transatlantic Cousins was the endeavour to 
place the vexed question of International Copyright 
on a sound and proper footing, and whenever an 
available occasion presented itself, he strenuously 
urged his ideas and views. Returning to England, 
he forwarded to the Athenceicm this letter, for which 
he had desired the widest publicity, in the hope that 
it might assist in bringing about the much-desired 
International Convention. It was inserted with the 
following editorial note : — 

" On the subject of literary piracy we have 
received the following letter from Mr. Charles 
Dickens. We do not see very clearly the good that 
would result even from a general adoption of the pro- 
posed measures ; but the straightforward and hearty 
way in which the writer has, under the most dis- 
couraging circumstances, set himself in opposition to 



1 



1842.] FURTHER AMERICAN EXPERIENCES. 123 

the disgraceful practice, entitles all his suggestions to 
respectful attention : — 

** I Devonshire Terrace, York Gate, 
" Regent's Park, 

"7th July, 1842. 
" You may perhaps be aware, that during my stay 
in America I lost no opportunity of endeavouring to 
awaken the public mind to a sense of the unjust and 
iniquitous state of the law of that country in refer- 
ence to the wholesale piracy of British works. 
Having been successful in making the subject one of 
general discussion in the United States, I carried to 
Washington, for presentation to Congress by Mr. 
Clay, a petition from the whole body of American 
authors, earnestly praying for the enactment of an 
International Copyright Law. It was signed by Mr. 
Washington Irving, Mr. Prescott, Mr. Cooper, and 
every man who had distinguished himself in the lite- 
rature of America, and has since been referred to a 
Select Committee of the House of Representatives. 
To counteract any effect which might be produced 
by that petition, a meeting was held at Boston — 
which you will remember is the seat and stronghold 
of Learning and Letters in the United States — at 
which a memorial against any change in the existing 
state of things in thi5i respect was agreed to, with but 
one dissentient voice. This document, which, ir- 
credible as it may appear to you, was actually for- 
warded to Congress, and received, deliberately stated, 



ia4 J^IFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [184a. 

that if English authors were invested with any 
control over the republication of their own books, it 
would be no longer possible for American editors to 
alter and adapt them (as they do now) to the 
American taste. This memorial was without loss of 
time replied to by Mr. Prescott, who commented, 
with the natural indignation of a gentleman and a 
man of letters, upon its extraordinary dishonesty. I 
am satisfied that this brief mention of its tone and 
spirit is sufficient to impress you with the conviction 
that it becomes- all those who are in any way con- 
nected with the literature of England to take that 
high stand to which the nature of their pursuits, and 
the extent of their sphere of usefulness, justly entitle 
them, to discourage the upholders of such doctrines 
by every means in their power, and to hold them- 
selves aloof from the remotest participation in a 
system, from which the moral sense and honourable 
feeling of all just men must instinctively recoil. For 
myself I have resolved that I will never from this 
time enter into any negotiation with any person for 
the transmission across the Atlantic of early proofs 
of anything I may write, and that I will forego all 
profit derivable from such a source. I do not venture 
to urge this line of proceeding upon you, but I would 
beg to suggest, and to lay great stress upon the 
necessity of observing, one other course of action, to 
which I cannot too emphatically call your attention. 
The persons who exert themselves to mislead the 
American public on this question, to put down its 



1842.] FURTHER AMERICAN EXPERIENCES. 125 

discussion, and to suppress and distort the truth in 
reference to it in every possible way (as you may easily 
suppose) are those who have a strong interest in the 
existing system of piracy and plunder ; inasmuch as, 
so long as it continues, they can gain a very comfort- 
able living out of the brains of other men, while they 
would find it very difficult to find bread by the 
exercise of their own. These are the editors and 
proprietors of newspapers almost exclusively devoted 
to the republication of popular English works.* 
They are, for the most part, men of very low attain- 
ments, and of more than indifferent reputation, and 
I have frequently seen them, in the same sheet in 
which they boast of the rapid sale of many thousand 
copies of an English reprint, coarsely and insolently 
attacking the author of that very book, and heaping 
scurrility and slander upon his head. I would there- 
fore entreat you, in the name of the honourable pur- 
suit with which you are so intimately connected, 
never to hold correspondence with any of these men, 
and never to negotiate with them for the sale of 

• Shortly after his first landing in America, Thackeray was 
invited to dinner by one of the Messrs. Harper, the well-known 
publishing firm, whose magazine. Harper's Monthly, was at one 
period a deliberate compilation from all the best English periodi- 
cals. On his introduction to Mr. Harper, Thackeray had 
joked with him on the American contempt for copyright ; and 
when he went into the drawing-room he took a little girl whom 
he found playing there on his knee, and gating at her with 
feigned wonder, said in solemn tones, " And this is a pirate's 
daughter I " 



126 LIFE OF CHART P.S DICKENS. [1842. 

early proofs, over which you have control, but to 
treat on all occasions with some respectable American 
publishing house, and with such an establishment 
only. Our common interest in this subject, and my 
advocacy of it, single-handed, on every occasion that 
has presented itself during my absence from Europe, 
forms my excuse for addressing you. 
" I am, &c., 

"Charles Dickens." 

To revert to the American visit, we may state that 
for the " Dickens Ball," at New York, on February 
14th, 1842, a committee of the citizens recommended, 
among many other suggestions of a similar character, 
the following : — 

ORDER OF DANCES AND TABLEAUX VIVANTS. 

1. Grand March. 

2. Tableau Vivant " A Sketch, by Boz." 

3. Amilie Qaadrille. 

4. Tableau Vivant " The Seasons," a poem, with music. 

5. Quadrille Waltz, selections. 

6. Tableau Vivant The book of "Oliver Twist." 

7. Quadrille March Norma. 

8. Tableau Vivant « The Ivy Green." 

9. Victoria Waltz. 

10. Tableau Vivant "Little Nell." 

11. Basket Quadrille. 

12. Tableau Vivant The book of "Nicholas Nickleby." 

13. March. 

14. Tableau Vivant « A Sketch, by Boz." 

1 5. Spanish Dance. 

16. Tableau Vivant .."The Pickwick Papers." 



1842.] FURTHER AMERICAN EXPERIENCES. 127 

It is, perhaps, well to remark that "Mrs. Leo 
Hunter's dinner party" was presented among the 
tableaux, as finally amended. The following report 
of an actual incident at the ball reads like an extract 
from the account of the manner in which Martin 
Chuzzlewit "received" the American sovereigns at 
the "National Hotel" :— 

* As Boz approached, Mr. Philip Hone seized his 
hand, and said, ^ My dear sir, here is a handful of our 
people — right glad — bright eyes — rejoice — heartfelt 
welcome — can't express— overpowered — feelings ' — 
to all which Boz most graciously bowed, and placed 
his hand upon his heart ; and then Mr. Hone said 
" nine cheers," and, evidently to the astonishment of 
the hero of the extraordinary scene, the surrounding 
crowd gave utterance to nine enthusiastic cheers." 

Punch jokingly said : " We learnt, while having 
our hair cut at Truefitt's the other day (March, 1842), 
that that illustrious dealer in fictitious hair had re- 
ceived an immense order from Boz, originating" in his 
desire to gratify the seventeen thousand American 
young ladies who had honoured him with applications 
for locks from his caput. Two ships have been 
chartered to convey the sentimental cargo, and will 
start from the London docks on the ist day of April." 

Soon after his return from America we find Sydney 
Smith again in active correspondence with our author. 
Dickens had asked him to dinner, and Sydney Smith 
replied* : — 

*i4th May, 1842. 



X28 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1842. 

" I accept your obliging invitation conditionally. 
If I am invited by any man of greater genius than 
yourself, or by one in whose works I have been more 
completely interested, I will repudiate you, and dine 
with the more splendid phenomenon of the two." 

At the end of the year, on the loth December, 
"The Patrician's Daughter," by Dr. Westland Mar- 
ston, was represented at Drury Lane, the beautiful 
prologue by Dickens being admirably delivered by 
Mr. Macready. 



■ '--'^ -^'-'Vt ' 



CHAPTER X. 

'* MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT." 




jNDETERRED by the disapprobation show- 
ered down upon him by the Americans, on 
1st January, 1843, Dickens issued the first 
number of " Martin Chuzzlewit." 

If there had been any previous doubt as to the 
general feeling throughout the States, there was none 
now. No sooner had the new book reached America 
than the storm burst forth with great violence, and 
all classes were so touched with Dickens's satire 
and the fun he had made of them, that a writer 
some time since said that when present at the 
Boston Theatre — the burlesque of " Macbeth " being 
performed — all sorts of worthless articles (Mexican 
rifles, Pennsylvanian bonds, &c.) were pitched into 
the cauldron, in the incantation scene, but nothing 
provoked louder cheers than when the last work 
by Dickens was thrown in ! The American journals, 
both literary and political, all united against the 
common foe, much in the same way as they had 
united twelve years before against Mrs. TroUope. and 
her " Domestic Manners of the Americans." 

In the preface to the cheap edition appearing ip 

I 



Z30 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1843. 

1849, h^ remarked that the American portions of 
the book, he had been given to understand from 
authorities, were considered violent exaggerations, 
and that the Watertoast Association and eloquence, 
for example, were beyond all bounds of belief. 
Nothing, however, but a liberal paraphrase of some 
reports of public proceedings in the United States 
(especially of the Brandywine Association), printed 
in the Times, in June and July, 1843, had been 
employed in writing Martin Chuzzlewit, and these 
formed the material complained of. We may 
remark that the same " Postscript " as in that of 
" American Notes " is affixed to the " Charles 
Dickens Edition " of " Martin Chuzzlewit." 

Blackwood affirmed that " Pecksniff owed much of 
his celebrity, we believe, to his remarkable likeness 
to the late Sir Robert Peel." " The American Pub- 
lisher's Circular," in the summer of 1857, stating 
that Mr. Samuel Carter Hall was about to visit the 
United States, to deliver a series of lectures, impu- 
dently alluded to Mr. Hall as being " the original of 
Dickens's character," and suggested that if he (Mr. 
Hall) wished to draw well, he should advertise himself 
as " the original Pecksniff." 

Lord Lytton, in the preface to "Night and Morn- 
ing," says : — " In this work I have sought to lift the 
mask from the timid selfishness which too often 
bears with us the name of Respectability. Purposely 
avoiding all attraction that may savour of extrava- 
gance, patiently subduing every tone and every hue 



1843] ''MARTIN CHUZZLRWirr , 131 

to the aspect of those whom we meet daily in our 
thoroughfares, I have shown in Robert Beaufort the 
man of decorous phrase and bloodless action — ^the 
systematic self-server — in whom the world forgives 
the lack of all that is generous, warm, and noble, in 
order to respect the passive acquiescence in metho- 
dical conventions and hollow forms. And how 
common such men are with us in this century, and 
how inviting and how necessary their delineation, 
may be seen in this, — that the popular and pre- 
eminent Observer of the age in which we live, has 
since placed their prototype in vigorous colours upon 
imperishable canvass. Need I say that I allude to 
the 'Pecksniff' of Mr. Dickens .?" 

The main object of " Martin Chuzzlewit " was to 
call attention to the system of ship-hospitals, and to 
workhouse nurses ; and, as types of the latter, Sarah 
Gamp, with the no less immortal, though invisible, 
Mrs. Harris, and Betsy Prig, are inimitable. Speaking 
of the former, a writer said : — 

" She is, with a vengeance, 
* The grave, conceited nurse, of office proud ! * 

" coarse, greedy, inhuman, jovial ; — prowling about 
young wives with a leer, and old men with a look 
that would fain May them out.' Ready at every 
festivity ' to put the bottle to her lips,' and at every 
calamity, to squat down and find in it her own 
account of pickled salmon and cucumber, — and 
crutched up in a sort of sham sympathy and zeal, 

I 2 



13* LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1843. 

by the perpetual praises administered to herself by 
that Eidolon, Mrs. Harris — there are not many things 
of their kind so living in fiction as this night-mare. 
The touch of exaggeration in her dialect is so skil- 
fully distributed everywhere, that we lose the sense 
of rt as we read. " 

Sydney Smith, delighted at the manner in which 
the Americans were pasquinaded, sent him these 
familiar notes on the merits of the book : — 

" You have been so used to such impertinences 
that I believe you will excuse me for saying how very 
much pleased I am with the first number of your 
new work. Pecksniff and his daughters, and Pinch, 
are admirable — quite first-rate painting, such as no 
one but yourself can execute. 

" I did not like your genealogy of the Chuzzlewits, 
and I must wait a little to see how Martin turns out. 
I am impatient for the next number. 

" Pray come and see me next summer ; and believe 
me ever yours, 

"Sydney Smith. 

"P.S. — Chufifey is admirable. I have never read a 
finer piece of writing ; it is deeply pathetic and 
affecting. Your last number is excellent. Don't 
give yourself the trouble to answer my impertinent 
eulogies, only excuse them." 

Then, again, under date July 12th, 1843, in ac- 
knowledgment of a call from Dickens, and after 
the receipt of a new number of " Martin Chuzzlewit," 
he writes :^- 



x843.] ** MARTIN CHUZZLEWITr 133 

"Excellent! nothing can be better! You must 
settle it with the Americans as you can, but I have 
nothing to do with that. I have only to certify that 
the number is full of wit, humour, and power of 
description. 

" I am slowly recovering from an attack of the 
gout in the knee, and am sorry to have missed you." 

" Martin Chuzzlewit " was published in a complete 
form by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, and dedicated 
to Miss Burdett Coutts. Poor Tom Pinch claims our 
best sympathy ; the boy Bailey, Pecksniff, and his 
chaste daughters, Montague Tigg, Mark Tapley, and 
Mrs. Lupin, and the Chuzzlewits, old and young, are 
all admirably sketched. The American characters, 
Jefferson Brick (war correspondent), Scadder, Colonel 
Diver, and Hannibal Chollop, are fine food for 
mirth. 

The most melodramatic portion is the murder of 
Tigg by Jonas Chuzzlewit. The disguise and pre- 
paration — the history of the individual mind of the 
murderer — the steps by which he descends — and the 
minute particulars which the over-wrought brain of 
Jonas catches up to use for his horrible purpose (wit- 
ness the conversation with the Doctor), are splendid 
examples of observation and intuition, and as true 
as nature itself ; and the defeat and final extirpation 
of selfishness in the heart of the hero, Martin, point 
a most valuable moral. The heroine is, however, 
weak, and sinks into insignificance by the side of 
charming little Ruth Pinch. 



X34 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1843. 

Remaining true to the resolve contained in his 
letter to the Aihenceum, the numbers were simulta- 
neously published here and in America, Messrs. 
Harper Brothers, by arrangement, being furnished 
with a duplicate copy of each number, thereby 
enabling them to forestall the other American 
publishers. 

A good melodramatic version was produced at 
the Lyceum, Mr. Robert Keeley enacting Sairey 
Gamp ; Mr. Emery, Jonas ; Frank Matthews, Peck- 
sniff; Miss Woolgar and Mrs. Keeley, Mercy and 
Bailey. 

Very recently, in March, 1868, Mr. Horace Wigan's 
adaptation at the Olympic met with considerable 
success, Mr. J. Clarke sustaining the part of Mrs. 
Gamp. 

Douglas Jerrold this summer (1843), occupying a 
cottage near Heme Bay, wrote to Dickens, inviting 
him to come and see him. The following is an ex- 
tract from his rejoinder : — 

" Heme Bay. Hum ! I suppose it is no worse 
than any other place in this weather ; but it is watery, 
rather, isn't it } In my mind's eye, I have the sea 
in a perpetual state of smallpox, and the chalk 
running downhill like town milk. But I know the 
comfort of getting to work in a fresh place, and pro- 
posing pious projects to oneself, and having the more 
substantial advantage of going to bed early, and 
getting up ditto, and walking about alone. If there 
were a fine day, I should like to deprive you of 



1843-] ''MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT:' 135 

the last-named happiness, and take a good long 
stroll." 

During the year, at the inauguration of the Man- 
chester Athenaeum, he made an admirable speech — 
his longest effort up to this time — on the importance 
and usefulness of Mechanics' Institutes. * 

After the publication of " Oliver Twist " and 
" Martin Chuzzlewit," Dickens's friends were con- 
tinually reporting to him cases of cruelty and hard- 
ship, and begging his attention thereto. In answer 
to one of these philanthropic appeals, Dickens wrote 
— he was at that time living in Devonshire terrace : — 

" That is a very horrible case you tell me of. I 
would to God I could get at the parental heart of 

, in which event I would so scarify it, that 

he should writhe again. But if I were to put such a 
father as he into a book, all the fathers going (and 
especially the bad ones) would hold up their hands 
and protest against the unnatural caricature. I find 
that a great many people (particularly those who 
might have sat for the character) consider even 
Mr. Pecksniff a grotesque impossibility ; and Mrs. 
Nickleby herself, sitting bodily before me in a solid 
chair, once asked me whether I really believed there 
was such a woman. 

" So y reviewing his own case, would not be- 
lieve in Jonas Chuzzlewit. * I like " Oliver Twist," * 
says , ' for I am fond of children. But the book 

* Given in Charles Dickens's Speeches, recently published. 



136 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1843. 

is unnatural. For who would think of being cruel to 
poor little Oliver Twist ? ' 

** Nevertheless I will bear the dog in my mind. 
And if I can hit him between the eyes, so that he 
shall stagger more than you or I have done this 
Christmas under the combined effects of punch and 
turkey — I will. 

" Thank you cordially for your note. Excuse this 
scrap of paper. I thought it was a whole sheet, 
until I turned over."* 

The reader will remember Maclise's beautiful por- 
trait of Dickens, familiar to us all as the engraved 
frontispiece to the large edition of "Nicholas Nic- 
kleby." It is the portrait of a literary exquisite 
thirty years ago ; and it is hard to believe that those 
large effeminate eyes sparkling from beneath flowing 
locks, that ample black satin scarf, with a diamond 
union-pin, and that wide velvet collar, can have any- 
thing to do with the hearty, keen-eyed, sailor-like 
man whose last photographs now look at us from 
every shop-window ! But it is so ! they are the por- 
traits of the same great man. Time alone has 
worked the change. Of his elegant appearance, 
when young, Mr. Arthur Locker gives us a remi- 
niscence : — " The first time," he says, " I saw the 
idolized Boz in the flesh was at a Fancy Fair in the 
Painted Hall of Greenwich Hospital, held, I think, 

* The letter was dated " Second January, 1 844." It was 
published in the Autographic Mirror for February, 1864. 



x843.] ''MARTIN CHVZZLEWlTr 137 

for the benefit of the Shipwrecked Mariners* Society. 
He was then a handsome young man, with piercing 
bright eyes and carefully arranged hair — much, in 
fact, as he is represented in Maclise's picture." 

Towards the close of this year another charac- 
teristic portrait of our author was taken by Miss M. 
Gillies, and a fine engraving of it, by Armytage, ap- 
peared as a frontispiece to Home's " New Spirit of 
the Age," issued early in the new year. It is different 
to the Maclise picture ; the hair is longer and more 
careless, the face is more thoughtful, the mouth 
firmer — in fact, there is less of the exquisite and 
more of the man about it than in the Maclise por- 
trait taken four years before. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE " CHRISTMAS CAROL." 

OT^IS next work was that delightful little book 
^ m — ^ better-hearted one never issued from the 
^=u press — "A Christmas Carol, in prose; being 
a Ghost Story of Christmas." It appeared in De- 
cember, 1843, with some admirable illustrations by- 
John Leech. Since the publication of the " Pickwick 
Papers," no work of Dickens's caused half the sensa- 
tion this touching and beautiful little story did. It is 
written with such a hearty appreciation of Christmas, 
and all the attendant festivities indulged in at that 
joyous period. The description of Scrooge is wonder- 
fully drawn ; his excitement in waking up after his 
interviews with the spirits, and finding it all a dream, 
his getting up and nearly cutting his nose off in 
shaving, buying the big turkey, and sending it off to 
Bob Cratchit, with a series of chuckles, and giving, so 
handsome a donation to the collector, and finally 
going to the party at Fred's, where that fine fellow 
Topper and the plump sister played up such grand 
tricks, and then behaving so unexpectedly to poor 
Bob the next day, — follow so rapidly as almost to 
take one's breath away with amazement and delight ! 



1843.] THE ''CHRISTMAS CAROL." 139 

If any individual story ever warmed a Christmas 
hearth, tJiat was the one ; if ever solitary Old-Self 
was converted by a book, and made to be merry and 
childlike at that season "when its blessed founder 
was himself a child," he surely was by that ! 

On a former page we spoke of Thackeray's 
hearty appreciation of Dickens — expressed, too, 
at a time when the "Vanity Fair" had made its 
writer's fame. It has been said that a degree 
of rivalry at one period existed between the two 
authors ; but few readers, we think, will be in- 
clined to characterize by any such term the most 
friendly competition after perusing this touching and 
beautiful tribute* to Mr. Dickens's genius from the 
pen of the yet unknown Michael Angelo Titmarsh. 
A box of Christmas books is supposed to have been 
sent by the editor to Titmarsh in his retirement in 
Switzerland, whence the latter writes his notions of 
their contents. The last book of all is Mr. Dickens's 
" Christmas Carol " — we mean the story of old 
Scrooge — the immortal precursor of that long line of 
Christmas stories which are now so familiar to his 
readers. 

" And now (says the critic), there is but one book 
left in the box, the smallest one, but oh ! how much 
the best of all. It is the work of the master of all 
the English humourists now alive ; the young man 
who came and took his place calmly at the head of 
the whole tribe, and who has kept it. Think of all 
* It appeared in Eraser^ s Magazine, for July, 1844. 



Z40 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1843. 

we owe Mr. Dickens since those half dozen years, 
that store of happy hours that he has made us pass, 
the kindly and pleasant companions whom he has 
introduced to us ; the harmless laughter, the generous 
wit, the frank, manly, human love which he has 
taught us to feel ! Every month of those years has 
brought us some kind token from this delightful 
genius. His books may have lost in art, perhaps, 
but could we afford to wait t Since the days when 
the Spectator was produced by a man of kindred 
mind and temper, what books have appeared that 
have taken so affectionate a hold of the English 
public as these ? 

"Who can listen to objections regarding such a 
book as this.? It seems to me a national benefit, 
and, to every man or woman who reads it, a personal 
kindness. The last two people I heard speak of 
it were women ; neither knew the other, or the 
author, and both said, by way of criticism, * God 
bless him ! ' 

"As for Tiny Tim, there is a certain passage in 
the book regarding that young gentleman, -about 
which a man should hardly venture to speak in 
print or in public, any more than he would of any 
other affections of his private heart. There is not 
a reader in England but that little creature will be 
a bond of union between author and him ; and he 
will say of Charles Dickens, as the woman just 
now, 'God bless him!' What a feehng is this for 



I843.J THE "CHRISTMAS CAROL." 141 

a writer to be able to inspire, and what a reward to 
reap ! " 

Let the reader call to mind the book itself, and 
then he will appreciate the warmth and exuberance 
of good feeling reflected in the following letter to its 
author by Lord Jeffrey : — " Blessings on your kind 
heart, my dear Dickens, and may it always be as full 
and as light as it is kind, and a fountain of kindness to 
all within reach of its beatings. We are all charmed 
with your * Carol ; ' chiefly, I think, for the genuine 
goodness which breathes all through it, and is the 
true inspiring angel by which its genius has been 
awakened. The whole scene of the Cratchits is like 
the dream of a beneficent angel, in spite of its broad 
reality, and little Tiny Tim in life and death almost 

as sweet and as touching as Nelly 

Well, to be sure, you should be happy yourself ; for 
you may be sure you have done more good, and not 
only fastened more kindly feelings, but prompted 
more positive acts of benevolence, by this little pub- 
lication, than can be traced to all the pulpits and 
confessionals since Christmas, 1842."* 

Sydney Smith, too, a few weeks afterwards 
wrote : — " Many thanks for the ' Christmas Carol,' 
which I shall immediately proceed upon, in pre- 
ference to six American pamphlets I found upon my 
arrival, all promising immediate payment ! " -f* 

In a criticism in Hood's Magazine ^ a similar senti- 

* Edinburgh, Dec. 26, 1843. 
t London, 21st Feb., 1844. 



X43 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1844. 

ment to that contained in Lord Jeffrey's letter 
occurs : — " This book will do more to spread Chris- 
tian feeling than ten thousand pulpits ! " 

And in another article the same writer — the kindly- 
Thomas Hood himself — says : — " It was a blessed 
inspiration that put such a book into the head of 
Charles Dickens — a happy inspiration of the heart, 
that warms every page. It is impossible to read, 
without a glowing bosom and burning cheeks, between 
love and shame for our kind, with perhaps a little 
touch of misgiving, whether we are not personally 
open, a crack or so, to the reproach of Wordsworth," — 

" ' The world is too much with us, early and late. 
Getting and spending.' *' 

Men of very different natures to Thomas Hood 
read of Little Nell, and were touched. It is told of 
Daniel O'Connell, the great Irish agitator, that, 
riding with a friend one day, and reading the then 
recently issued book where the death of Little Nell 
is recorded, the great orator's eyes filled with tears, 
and he sobbed aloud, — 

" He should not have killed her ! — ^he should not 
have killed her ! She was too good ! " and so he 
threw the book out of the window, unable to read 
more, and indignant that the author should have 
immolated a heroine in death. f 

The story was dramatized and played at several 
theatres, the Adelphi, as usual, taking the lead in 
making the tale popular. It was about this time that 



1844.J THE ''CHRISTMAS CAROL." 243 

Dickens resorted to the Court of Chancery for an 
injunction against the printer and four publishers of 
" Parley's Illuminated Library " for piracy. 

Mr. Dickens had now two sons — the last being born 
during the progress of " Martin Chuzzlewit." Early in 
the new year, it was decided upon christening the 
second boy, and the name Francis Jeffrey — after that 
of a true and tried friend — was determined upon. A 
letter of the latter, dated ist February, 1844, in 
answer to the half-serious, half-jocular proposal of 
Dickens, says : — " About that most flattering, or 
more probably passing, fancy of that dear Kate 
(Mrs. Dickens) of yours to associate my name with 
yours over the baptismal font of your new-come boy, 
my first impression was that it was a mere piece of 
kind badinage of hers (or perhaps your own), and not 
meant to be seriously taken, and, consequently, that 

it would be foolish to take any notice of it 

If such a thing be indeed in your contemplation, it 
would be more flattering and agreeable to me than 
most things which have happened to me in my moral 
pilgrimage ; while, if it was but the expression of a 
happy and confiding playfulness, I shall still feel 
grateful for the communication, and return you a 
smile as cordial as your own, with full permission for 
both of you to smile at the simplicity which could not 
distinguish jest from earnest. . . . . . I want 

amazingly to see you rich, and independent of all irk- 
some exertions ; and really if you go on having more 
boys (and naming them after poor Scotch plebeians), 



144 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1844. 

you must make good bargains and lucky hits, and, 
above all, accommodate yourself oftener to that deeper 
and higher tone of human feeling, which, you now see 
experimentally, is more surely and steadily popular 
than any display of fancy, or magical power of 
observation and description combined. And so God 
be with you and yours," &c. 

The last part of the letter alludes, no doubt, to the 
profits of the " Christmas Carol," the sale of which was 
very large. Jeffrey knew how few authors possessed 
sufficient worldly wisdom to keep a balance at their 
bankers', and gave his young friend a delicate hint to 
"be careful and save." This was not the only time Lord 
Jeffrey quietly lectured his correspondent. Three years 
later, in 1847, we get this piece of practical — shall we 
say Northern — advice } — " I am rather " (he writes in 
1 847) '* disappointed to find your e^nbankment " (doubt- 
lessly a fund of future provision) " still so small. But it 
is a great thing that you have made a beginning, and 
laid a foundation, and you are young enough to think 
of living yet many years under the proud roof of the 
completed structure, which even I expect to see ascend- 
ing in its grandeur. But when I consider that the 
public has, upon moderate computation, paid at least 
^100,000 for your works (and had a good bargain, 
too, for the money), I think it is rather provoking 

to think that the author should not now have 

in bank, and never have received, I suspect, above 

. There must have been some mismanagement, 

I think, as well as ill-luck, to have occasioned this 



i844-] THE "CHRISTMAS CAROL,*' 145 

result — not extravagance on your part, my dear 
Dickens, nor even excessive beneficence — but im- 
provident arrangements with publishers, and too care- 
less a control over their proceedings. But you are 
wiser now, and, with Forster's kind and judicious 
help, will soon redeem the effect of your not un- 
generous errors." 

It is not generally known that Dickens contributed 
an article to Hood's Magazine a7td Comic Miscellaizy 
in May, 1844. Our author had received some kind- 
nesses at the hands of the humourist, and in recogni- 
tion of them he sent a paper entitled " Threatening 
Letter to Thomas Hood, from an Ancient Gentleman, 
by favour of Charles DickenSy" to his friend's magazine. 
Speaking of the manner of some complaining old 
gentlemen, the writer of the letter tried to find fault 
with everything modern : — 

'' Mr. Hood, Sir. .... Ah ! governments 
were governments, and judges were judges in my 
day, Mr. Hood. There was no nonsense then. Any 
of your seditious complainings, and we were ready 
with the military on the shortest notice. We should 
have charged Covent Garden Theatre, sir, on a 
Wednesday night, at the point of the bayonet. 
Then, the judges were full of dignity and firmness, 
and knew how to administer the law. , 

"There is only one judge who knows how to do his 
duty now. He tried that revolutionary female the 
other day, who, though she was in full work (making 
shirts at three-halfpence a-piece), had no pride in her 

K 



r46 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1844, 



country, but treasonably took it into her head, in the 
distraction of having been robbed of her easy earn- 
ings, to attempt to drown herself and her young 
child, and the glorious man went out of his way, sir 
— out of his way — to call her up for instant sentence 
of death, and to tell her she had no hope of mercy 
in this world — as you may see yourself if you look 
in the papers of Wednesday, the 17th of April." 

It is curious, after this allusion to Mr. Laing, the 
notorious police magistrate — said to be the Fang 
of "Oliver Twist" — and after mentioning the poor 
distressed needlewoman, with the allusion to Sir 
Peter Laurie, that the next article immediately 
following should be the first appearance of Hood's 
exquisite "Bridge of Sighs." On the same page 
with Dickens's bitter and telling attack upon the 
grumblers in power — the grumblers who can only see 
national prosperity in the increasing misery of the 
lower orders — there appeared those wonderful lines, 
commencing, — 

" One more Unfortunate, 
Weary of breath. 
Rashly importunate. 
Gone to her death ! " 

as if suggested by the poor female whom Dickens 
had just described as being brought before the magis- 
trate for an attempt to commit suicide. 

In May, 1844, he presided at the Annual Conver- 
sazione of the Polytechnic Institution in Birming- 
ham, and made a most telling speech. Writing, soon 



1S44] THE *' CHRISTMAS CAROLS 147 

after, to Jerrold — who was very nervous in address- 
ing an assembly — he said : " Is your modesty a con- 
firmed habit, or could you prevail upon yourself, if 
you are moderately well, to let me call you up for a 
word or two at the Sanatorium Dinner ? There are 
some men (excellent men) connected with that insti- 
tution, who would take the very strongest interest in 
your doing so ; and do advise me, one of these odd 
days, that if I can do it well and unaffectedly, I 
may." Jerrold overcame his bashfulness, and pre- 
sided at the next Anniversary. 

A very kind and graceful act was performed by 
Dickens this year. Mr. Newby, in July, published, 
in one volume, "The Evenings of a Working 
Man. Being the Occupation of his Scanty LeisttrCy 
by John Overs. With a Preface^ relating to the 
Antlior, by Charles Dickens!' The preface is of the 
most charming description. It first mentions that 
Overs was a carpenter, who had employed his evenings 
in literary compositions, and applied to him, as he 
was relinquishing the editorship of Bentley's Miscel- 
lany, for help to get his writings into notice. After 
some correspondence, Dickens trying to dissuade 
him from the perils of authorship, and a personal 
interview, " he wrote me," he says, " as manly and 
straightforward, but, withal, as modest, a letter as 
ever I read in my life. He explained to me how 
limited his ambition was, soaring no higher than the 
establishment of his wife in some light business, and 
the better education of his children. He set be- 

K 2 



,^y-u-i^]fm4 : 



±48 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1844, 



fore me the difference of his evening and holiday 
studies, such as they were, and his having no better 
resource than an ale-house or a skittle-ground." 
Dickens accordingly consented to assist him, and 
got several of his pieces inserted in a magazine. 
** During this period neither hammer, nor plane, nor 
chisel had been laid aside for the more enticing ser- 
vice of the pen — literary compositions had neither 
seduced John Overs into dreams nor lamentations 

which have damaged his peace of mind. 

* * * * » 

'^ He is very ill ; the faintest shadow of the man 
who came into my little study, for the first time, 
half a dozen years ago, after the correspondence I 
have mentioned. He has been very ill for a long 
period ; his disease is a severe and wasting affection 
of the lungs, which has incapacitated him tljese 
many months for every kind of occupation. ' If I 
could only do a hard day's work,' he said to me, the 
other day, ' how happy I should be.' 

*' Having these papers by him, amongst others, he 
bethought himself that, if he could get a bookseller 
to purchase them for publication in a volume, they 
would enable him to make some temporary provision 
for his sick wife and very young family. We talked 
the matter over together, and that it might be easier 
of accomplishment, I promised him that I would 
write an introduction to his book. 

" I would to Heaven that I could do him better 
service ; I would to Heaven it were an introduc- 



1844] THE "CHRISTMAS CAROL." 149 

tion to a long, and vigorous, and useful life. But 
Hope will not trim her lamp the less brightly for him 
and his because of this impulse to their struggling 
fortunes ; and trust me, reader, they deserve her 
light, and need it sorely. 

"He has inscribed this book to one* whose skill 
will help him, under Providence, in all that human 
skill can do — to one who never could have recognized 
in any potentate on earth a higher claim to constant 
kindness and attention than he has recognized in 
him." 

The book was eventually published at 5^., and was 
found to contain some very creditable writing, both 
prose and verse. Overs did not live long to enjoy 
his popularity, for the malady under which he was 
labouring terminated fatally the following October. 
The work and its author are now almost forgotten, 
but the generous conduct displayed towards him by 
Dickens is well deserving of remembrance. 

* Dr. Elliotson. 



-8^- 



CHAPTER XII. 



VISIT TO ITALY. 



THE CHIMES.' 




N the summer of this year Dickens went to 
Italy. He started off with his wife, sister- 
in-law, five children, courier, nurses, &c., 
and a carriage, and had a very enjoyable holiday. 
Previous to his departure, he was entertained at a 
dinner by his friends, at the " Trafalgar," Greenwich, 
on 19th June, 1845, Lord Normanby in the chair. 
The following extracts from his epistles to Jerrold 
give us many pleasing bits of an autobiographical 
character, and at least show us how he enjoyed 
himself : — 

" Come, come and see me in Italy— let us smoke a 
pipe among the vines. I have taken a little house 
surrounded by them, and no man in the world should 
be more welcome to it than you." 

And in another from Cremona : — 

" It was very hearty and good of you, Jerrold, to 
make that affectionate mention of the * Carol ' in 
Punch; and, I assure you, it was not lost upon the 
distant object of your manly regard, but touched 
him as you wished and meant it should. I wish we 
had not lost so much time in improving our personal 



1844.] VISIT TO ITALY. 151 

knowledge of each other. But I have so steadily- 
read you, and so selfishly gratified myself in always 
expressing the admiration with which your gallant 
truths inspired me, that I must not call it lost time 
either." 

From the same place, in November : — 
" You rather entertained the idea once of coming 
to see me at Genoa. I shall return straight on the 
9th of December, limiting my stay in town to one 
week. Now, couldn't you come back with me ? The 
journey that way is very cheap, costing little more 
than ;^I2, and I am quite sure the gratification to 
you would be high. I am lodged in quite a wonder- 
ful place, and would put you in a painted room as 
big as a church, and much more comfortable. There 
are pens and ink upon the premises ; orange-trees, 
gardens, battledores and shuttlecocks, rousing wood 
fires for the evenings, and a welcome worth having. 

Come ! Letter from a gentleman in Italy 

to Bradbury and Evans in London. Letter from a 
gentleman in a country gone to sleep, to a gentle- 
man in a country that would go to sleep too, and 
never wake again, if some people had their way. 
You can work in Genoa — the house is used to it : it 
is exactly a week's post. Have that portmanteau 
looked to ; and when we meet, say, * I am coming !' " 
The visit to Italy often formed a subject for con- 
versation with Dickens, and only a few weeks before 
his death, he told Mr. Arthur Locker this anecdote 
of his- experiences there. " Mr. Dickens, on one 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1844. 

occasion, visited a certain monastery, and was con- 
ducted over the building by a young monk, who, 
though a native of the country, spoke remarkably 
fluent English. There was, however, one peculiarity 
about his pronunciation. He frequently misplaced 
his v's and w's. * Have you been in England } ' 
asked Mr. Dickens. * No,' replied the monk, ' I have 
learnt my English from this book,' producing ' Pick- 
wick ;' and it further appeared that he had selected 
Mr. Samuel Weller as the beau ideal of elegant pro- 
nunciation." 

" The Chimes : a Goblin Story of some Bells that 
Rang an Old Year out and a New Year in," was 
published at the end of the year, by Messrs. Chap- 
man and Hall, illustrated by Maclise, Doyle, Leech, 
and Stanfield. It was of the same size and price as 
the former Christmas book ; but, instead of being 
illustrated by Mr. Leech alone, several Academicians 
and other artists had now come forward with their 
pencils. The great success of the " Christmas 
Carol," in the preceding year, had directed the 
attention -of other authors to this class of literature, 
and this Christmas there appeared "The Snow 
Storm," by Mrs. Gore ; " The Last of the Fairies," 
by G. P. R. James ; an Irish Story, by Mr. Lever ; 
and others ; but we need hardly say Mr. Dickens 
distanced them all. 

Next to the "Christmas Carol," it is one of the 
most delightful little books he has written. Old 
Toby Yeck, the patient, drudging ticket-porter, 



I844-] *'THE CHIMES," 153 

plying his vocation near the old church, listening 
to the voices of the bells, and gathering encourage- 
ment from them, is a beautifully drawn character, 
Meg, his daughter, a hopeful woman, and Richard, 
her sweetheart, are truthfully portrayed, as also Will 
Fern, Sir Joshua Bowley, Mr. Filer, and Alderman 
Cute. The plot is worked out somewhat after the 
plan of the " Christmas Carol," consisting mainly of 
a dream by Toby Veck. Every one ought to be well 
pleased with the finale, in which Toby disappears 
from notice in a country dance to the step he is so 
accustomed to — a Trot. 

Thomas Hood, who had written so beautifully of 
the " Christmas Carol," could not refrain from 
expressing in print a like admiration for " The 
Chimes " : — " This," he wrote, " is another of those 
seasonable books intended by Boz to stir up and 
awaken the kindly feelings which are generally dif- 
fused amongst mankind, but too apt, as old Weller 
says, to lie ' dormouse ' in the human bosom. It is 
similar in plan to the ' Christmas Carol,' but is scarcely 
so happy in its subject — it could not be — as that 
famous Gobbling Story, with its opulence of good 
cheer, and all the Gargantuan festivity of that hos- 
pitable tide. The hero of the tale is one Toby Veck 
(we wish that surname had been more English in 
its sound, it seems to want an outlandish De or 
Van before it), a little old London ticket-porter, 
— who does not know the original i* — and his hum- 
ble dwelling down the mews, with his wood<^n card- 



IS4 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1844. 

board at the door, with his name and occupation, 
and the 

^ N.B. — Messuages carefully delivered!^ 
May ' The Chimes/ " Tom Hood concludes, " be 
widely and wisely heard, inculcating their wholesome 
lessons of charity and forbearance, reminding wealth 
of the claims of want — the feasting of the fasting, 
and inducing them to spare something for an aching 
void from their comfortable repletion." 

Having alluded to the administration of the law 
by Mr. Laing, the Clerkenwell magistrate, in " Oliver 
Twist," under the character of Mr. Fang, likewise 
to the notorious Sir Peter Laurie, in " The Chimes," 
as Alderman Cute, the talk about "putting 
down " various little wants, cares, and troubles 
of the poor being merely a transcript of what the 
garrulous old City magistrate had said from the 
bench, " Particularly well," says one who had heard 
him, " do we recollect a promise made by that 
officious personage, ' dressed in a little brief autho- 
rity,' to a starved and maddened woman, who had 
attempted to drown herself, that he (Sir Peter 
Laurie) would /2^/ dow7i suicide f'^ The alderman did 
not forget the attack made upon him, and when he 
found an opportunity, which he did shortly, ridiculed 
Mr. Dickens's description of Jacob's Island in 
"Oliver Twist," and denied in full court the exist- 
ence, as described, of that locality, and of the Folly 
Ditch ; but the author was again too strong for the 
alderman, and in his preface to the new edition of 



1844.] " THE CHIMES." 155 

the tale he incidentally mentions the fact, and denies, 
in his turn, the existence of Sir Peter Laurie ! 

Jerrold, we may remark, under the initial of 
"Q.," often scarified the alderman in the pages of 
Punch. 

As a drama " The Chimes " became very popular, 
the Adelphi performing on 19th December a version 
adapted with some skill by Messrs. Mark Lemon and 
Gilbert A'Beckett, Mr. Wright sustaining the part of 
Alderman Cute, and Paul Bedford Sir Joshua Bowley. 
The Lyceum had an admirable dramatic version, Mr. 
Keeley's Toby Veck being a most life-like portrait of 
Dickens's happy original. 

Writing from Milan, in November, 1844, to the 
Countess of Blessington, we learn how this beautiful 
little work was composed \— 

" Since I heard from Count D'Orsay, I have been 
beset in I don't know how many ways. First of all, 
I went to Marseilles, and came back to Genoa. Then 
I went to the Peschiere. Then some people who had 
been present at the Scientific Congress here, made a 
sudden inroad on that establishment and over-ran it. 
Then they went away, and I shut myself up for one 
month, close and tight, over my little Christmas 
book, ' The Chimes.' All my affections and passions 
got twined and knotted in it, and I became as 
haggard as a murderer, long before I had wrote 
* The End.' When I had done that, like ' The man 
of Thessaly,* who having scratched his eyes out in 
a quickset hedge, plunged into a bramble-bush to 



iS6 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1844. 

scratch them in again, I fled to Venice, to recover 
the composure I had disturbed. From thence I 
went to Verona and to Mantua. And now I am here 
— just come up from underground, and earthy all 
over, from seeing that extraordinary tomb in which 
the Dead Saint lies in an alabaster case, with 
sparkling jewels all about him to mock his dusty 
eyes, not to mention the twenty-franc pieces which 
devout votaries were ringing down upon a sort of 
skylight in the Cathedral pavement above, as if it 

were the counter of his Heavenly shop 

Old is a trifle uglier than when I first 

arrived. He has periodical parties, at which 
there are a great many flower-pots and a few ices — 
no other refreshments. He goes about continu- 
ally with extemporaneous poetry ; and is always 
ready, like tavern-dinners, on the shortest notice 
and the most reasonable terms. He keeps a 
gigantic harp in his bedroom, together with pen, ink, 
and paper, for fixing his ideas as they flow — a kind 
of profane King David, truly good-natured and very 
harmless. Pray say to Count D'Orsay everything 
that is cordial and loving from me. The travelling- 
purse he gave me has been of immense service. It 
has been constantly opened. All Italy seems to 
yearn to put its hand into it. I think of hanging it, 
when I come back to England, on a nail as a trophy, 
and of gashing the brim like the blade of an old 
sword, and saying to my son and heir, as they do 
upon the stage : * You see this notch, boy } Five 



184S-] " THE CHIMES." tS7 

hundreo francs were laid low on that day, for post- 
horsew. Where this gap is, a waiter charged your 
father treble the correct amount — and got it. This 
end, worn into teeth like the rasped edge of an old 
file, is sacred to the Custom Houses, boy, the pass- 
ports, and the shabby soldiers at town-gates, who 
put an open hand and a dirty coat-cuff into the 
windows of all Forestieri. Take it, boy. Thy 
father has nothing else to give ! ' My desk is cooling 
itself in a mail-coach, somewhere down at the back 
of the cathedral, and the pens and ink in this house 
are so detestable, that I have no hope of your ever 
getting this portion of my letter. But I have the 
less misery in this state of mind, from knowing that 
it has nothing in it to repay you for the trouble of 
perusal." 

During the early part of the year 1845 Dickens 
remained on the Continent. He was in London, 
however, in the summer, making arrangements for 
new books, and other ventures — amongst them a new 
daily paper, of the most liberal principles — for the 
coming autumn season. 







CHAPTER XIII. 

DICKENS AS AN ACTOR. 

jT has been very generally stated that it was 
at the close of this year that our author 
made his first appearance as an actor upon a 
public stage. This is not correct. Dickens's extreme 
fondness for theatricals had tempted him, as far back 
as the year 1836, when "Pickwick" was publishing, 
to take a part in " The Strange Gentleman," at St. 
James's Theatre. The amateur actor was not suc- 
cessful on this occasion, and we believe no further 
attempt — except drawing-room performances — ^was 
made until the autumn of 1845, when he made 
another appearance on the stage at the St. James's 
Theatre, on the 19th of September, the play selected 
being Ben Jonson's " Every Man in his Humour ;" 
the various parts of the amateur performance being 
taken by literary and artistic celebrities. The triumph 
achieved was immense. They were induced to repeat 
the performance for a Charit)^ at the same theatre, 
on the 15 th of November following, the only altera- 
tion being the substitution of a Mr. Eaton for Mr. 
A'Beckett as William. The playbill itself is a 
curiosity : — 



1845.] DICKENS AS AN ACTOR. 159 

*M Strictly Private Afnateiir Performance 
At the St. James's Theatre 

(By favour of Mr. Mitchell). Will be performed Ben Jensen's 
Comedy of 

EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR. 



Knowell 

Edward Knowell 

Brainworm ... 

George Downright 

Wellbred ... 

Kitely 

Captain Bobadil 

Master Stephen 

Master Mathew 

Thomas Cash 

OHvcr Cob ... 

Justice Clement 

Roger Formal 

William 

James 

Dame Kitely... 

Mistress Bridget 

Tib 



CHARACTERS 



Henry Mayhew. 
Frederick Dickens. 
Mark Lemon. 
Dudley Cos telle. 
George Cattermole. 
John Forster, 
Charles Dickens. 
Douglas Jerrold. 
John Leech. 
Augustus Dickens. 
Percival Leigh. 
Frank Stone. 
Mr. Evans. 
W. Eaton. 
W. B. Jerrold. 
Miss Fortescue. 
Miss Hinton. 
Miss Bew. 



To conclude with a Farce, in One Act, called 
TWO O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING. 



CHARACTERS- 



Mr. Snobbington ., 
The Stranger 



Mr. Charles Dickens. 
Mr. Mark Lemon. 



Previous to the Play, the Overture to William Tell. Previous 
to the Farce, the Overture to La Gazza Lt dra* 

His Royal Highness Prince Albert has been pleased to express his 
intention to honour the performance with his presence." 



'"'■'^^ 



160 L/FB OF CHARLES DICKENS, ^1844. 

Ben Jonson, as an acting dramatist, has almost 
disappeared from the stage he so long adorned, and, 
probably, no performance of his best comedy was 
ever more successful than the above. Dickens made 
such an admirable Captain Bobadil, that Leslie, the 
Royal Academician, took a most characteristic por- 
trait of him in that character. The moment selected 
is when the Captain shouts out — 

" A gentleman ! odds so, I am not within." 

Act I., Scene 3. 

Mr. Mitchell, of Bond Street, published a fine 
lithograph of the picture, and collectors of the 
deceased novelist's portraits will do well to secure a 
copy. For beauty of portraiture and character there 
is nothing like it. It is also very interesting, as 
coming between the beautiful but effeminate portrait 
of Maclise and the photograph of our own day, 
because it shows the change that was coming over 
his features, when deep thought and firmness of pur- 
pose were beginning to leave their marks behind 
them. 

But to return to Dickens as an actor. A friend 
says : — 

*' Analogous to his powers as a reader were his 
abilities as an actor ; and it has been said of him 
with truth that, with perhaps the exception of 
Frederick Lemaitre in his best days, there was no 
one who could excel Charles Dickens in purely 
dramatic representation. Those who saw the charac- 
ter of the lighthouse-keeper in Mr. Wilkie Collins's 



t84S.] dickens as AN ACTOR. i6i 

drama, as portrayed first by Mr. Dickens and then 
by Mr. Robson, were enabled to judge of the wonder- 
ful superiority of the rendering given by the former. 
And not merely as an actor, but as a stage director, 
were his talents pre-eminent ; not merely did he play 
his own part to perfection, but he taught every one 
else in his little company how to play theirs ; he 
would devise scenery with Stanfield and Telbin, take 
a practical share in the stage carpentry, write out the 
copy for the playbill, and in every way thoroughly 
earn the title of * Mr. Crummies,' with which he was 
always affectionately greeted on these occasions." 

At the time of which we are writing, Dickens was 
full of enthusiasm for the stage, and being ap- 
pealed to by Jerrold for an opinion on his drama of 
" Time Works Wonders," he wrote to his friend : — 
" I am greatly struck by the whole idea of the 
piece. The elopement in the beginning, and the 
consequences that flow from it, and their delicate and 
masterly exposition, are of the freshest, truest, and 
most vigorous kind ; especially the characters — 
especially the governess, among the best I know ; 
and the wit and the wisdom of it are never asunder. 
I could almost find it in my heart to sit down and 
write you a long letter on the subject of this play, 
but I won't. I will only thank you ior it heartily, 
and add that I agree with you in thinking it incom- 
parably the best of your dramatic writings." 

During the summer and autumn oi this year Mr. 
Dickens finished his new Christmas book, "The 

I. 



l62 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1845-46. 



Cricket on the Hearth (a Fairy Tale of Home) ; 
printed and pubhshed for the Author" by Messrs. 
Bradbury and Evans, illustrated by Leech, Stanfield, 
and Maclise, and dedicated to Lord Jeffrey. Next 
to the " Christmas Carol " and the " Chimes," this is 
a great favourite. 

The quaint way in which it opens, giving an 
eloquent picture of homely and domestic comfort in 
the English carrier's house, the construction of the 
plot, and the ^ox'ioms denouement, make the book one 
of his best and heartiest efforts. Tilly Slowboy, the 
great clumsy nurse-girl, is very charmingly pour- 
trayed, her especial forte being to hold the baby 
topsy-turvey, and entertain it with dialogues, consist- 
ing mainly of scraps from conversations she hears, 
with all the nouns turned into plurals. 

The Lyceum was first in the field (21st December) 
with a dramatic adaptation by Mr. Albert Smith, 
Miss Mary Keeley impersonating Bertha ; Mr. Keeley, 
Caleb ; Mrs. Keeley, Mrs. Peerybingle ; and Mr. Emery, 
John, the honest carrier. Under Mrs. Keeley's man- 
agement it proved an extraordinary success. 

On 6th January following, Mr. Webster's version 
of the story was placed on the Haymarket boards, 
with this strong cast : — 



John Peerybingle 

Tackleton 

Caleb 

Mrs. Peerybingle 

Bertha 

Tilly Slowboy 



Mr. Webster. 
Mr. Tilbury. 
Mr. Farren. 
Miss Fortesque. 
Mrs. Seymour 
Mr. Euckstone. 



1845-46.] DICKENS AS AN ACTOR. 163 

At the Adelphi, O* Smith represented Mr. Peery- 
bingle ; Wright, Tilly Slowboy ; and the celebrated 
Mrs. Fitzwilliam, Dot. At the City of London 
Theatre, too, an adaptation was performed with coa- 
siderable ability. In the beginning of 1862, Mr. 
Boucicault's adaptation, under the title of "Dot," 
played at the Adelphi, proved a great triumph, 
Mr. J. L. Toole sustaining the part of Caleb. 



5"^^v 




CHAPTER XIV. 




DICKENS AS A JOURNALIST. 

E have previously alluded to the fact that 
Mr. Dickens had for some time past been 
thinking of connecting himself with a new- 
daily paper which was to appear early in the new 
year. The idea was well taken up. Money was 
freely spent by the various shareholders, and many 
advertisements told the public that a newspaper, 
which should supply everything in the first style of 
newspaper talent, would be published at the price 
of twopence-halfpenny. The name chosen was the 
Daily News, and Mr. Dickens was widely advertised 
as "the head of the literary department." Expec- 
tation was raised to a high pitch by this announce- 
ment ; and in 1846, on the 21st of January, the first 
number appeared. The new journal, however, did 
not prove so successful as was expected. The staffs 
of other papers had been long organized, their 
expenses — of course immense — ^were well and judi- 
ciously controlled, and the arrangements complete. 
AH these things were new to the Daily News, and 
the expenses entered i-nto did not render it possible, 
with the circulation it had then reached, to sell the 



1846 ] DICKENS AS A JOURNALIST. 165 

paper at the original price ; and it was shortly after 
raised to threepence, and finally to the same price 
as the Times. 

Very recently, and only a few days after the 
death of the great novelist, the paper here alluded 
to gave this account of his connection with the 
journal : — 

" Some of our readers may not be aware that the 
* Pictures from Italy,' which are now included in all 
editions of Charles Dickens's works, were originally 
contributed to this newspaper, and that its early 
numbers were brought out under his editorship. In 
the first number of this journal, in the Daily News 
of January 21, 1846, appeared No. I of ' TraveUing 
Letters, written on the Road, by Charles Dickens.' 
In the Daily News of February 14th, of the same 
year, Mr. Dickens wrote the following verses — which 
will be new to many — elicited by a speech at one 
of the night meetings of the wives of agricultural 
labourers in Wiltshire, held to petition for free- 
trade : — 

THE HYMN OF THE WILTSHIRE LABOURERS. 
" Don't you all think that we have a great need to cry to our 
God to put it in the hearts of our greaseous Queen and her 
members of Parlerment to grant us free bread ! "—Lucy Simp- 
kins, at Brem Hill. 

Oh God, who by Thy Prophet's hand 

Didst smite the rocky brake. 
Whence water came at Thy command. 

Thy people's thirst to slake : 



i66 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. \jiZ^ 

Strike, now, upon this granite wall. 

Stern, obdurate, and high ; 
And let some drops of pity fall 

For us who starve and die 1 

The God, who took a little child 

And set him in the midst. 
And promised him His mercy mild. 

As, by Thy Son, Thou didst : 
Look down upon our children dear. 

So gaunt, so cold, so spare. 
And let their images appear 

Where Lords and Gentry are ! 

Oh God, teach them to feel how we. 

When our poor infants droop. 
Are weakened in our trust in Thee, 

And how our spirits stoop : 
For, in Thy rest, so bright and fair. 

All tears and sorrows sleep ; 
And their young looks, so full of care. 

Would make Thine angels weep ! 

The God, who with His finger drew 

The Judgment coming on. 
Write for these men, what must ensue. 

Ere many years be gone ! 
Oh God, whose bow is in the sky. 

Let them not brave and dare. 
Until they look (too late) on high 

And see an Arrow there ! 

Oh God, remind them In the bread 

They break upon the knee. 
These sacred words may yet be read, 

" In memory of Me " ! 



X846.] DICKENS AS A JOURNALIST. 167 

Oh God, remind them of His sweet 

Compassion for the poor. 
And how He gave them Bread to eat. 

And went from door to door. 

Charles Dickens. 

"There is the true ring in these lines. They have 
the note which Dickens sounded consistently through 
life of right against might ; the note which found 
expression in the Anti-Corn Law agitation, in the 
protests against workhouse enormities, in the raid 
against those eccentricities in legislation which are 
anomalies to the rich and bitter hardships to the 
poor. Let the reader remark how consistently the 
weekly periodicals which Mr. Dickens has guided 
have taken this side, and how the many pens 
employed on them have taken this side whenever 
political or social subjects have been discussed ; and 
he will understand that the author was not a mere 
jester and story-teller, but a true philanthropist and 
reformer."* 

Dickens's friends very soon saw that he had taken 
a false step. The duties of a daily political paper 
were not suitable to him, and before many months 
he relinquished the editorship, and retired from par- 
ticipation in the Daily News — but not, it is under- 
stood, without a considerable loss in money. His 
place was then filled by Mr. John Forster, the able 
editor of the Examiner ^ and friend — and at that time 

* Daily NezvSy nth June, 1870. 



i68 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1846. 

the champion — of Mr. Macready. For many years 
previously Dickens had been on the friendliest terms 
with the author of the delightful " Life of Goldsmith," 
and this intimacy was maintained to the close of our 
authors life, and in his will Mr. Forster has been 
appointed principal executor. After the " Pictures " 
had appeared in the Daily N<iwSy they were col- 
lected and printed and published for the author, 
in May, 1846, by his new publishers, Messrs, Brad- 
bury and Evans. Both this work and " The Cricket 
on the Hearth" may be regarded as the specula- 
tions of Mr. Dickens in attempting publishing on his 
own account. No further works written by him have 
been, we believe, "printed and published tor the 
author." The book did not meet with that hearty 
applause which had been given to his previous works. 
About this time there are evidences that Dickens 
was planning another novel, to be issued in the old 
familiar green covers. Two years had elapsed since 
the completion of " Martin Chuzzlewit," and we now 
find him writing to his friend, the Countess of 
Blessington, about a " new book " — which new work 
must have been " Dombey and Son," that appeared 
in the following year : — " Vague thoughts of a new 
book are rife within me just now ; and I go wander- 
ing about at night into the strangest places, according 
to my usual propensity at such a time, seeking rest, 
and finding none. As an addition to my composure, 
I ran over a little dog in the Regent's Park, yesterday 
(killing him on the spot), and gave his little mistress 



1846.] DICKENS AS A JOURNALIST. 169 

such exquisite distress as I never saw the like of. I 
must have some talk with you about those American 
singers * They must never go back to their own 
country without your having heard them sing Hood's 
' Bridge of Sighs.' My God ! how sorrowful and 
pitiful it is !" 

Writing to Jerrold, also, before his departure to 
Switzerland, he incidentally speaks of the work he 
is engaged upon : — 

" I wish you would seriously consider the expe- 
diency and feasibility of coming to Lausanne in the 
summer or early autumn. I must be at work myself 
during a certain part of every day almost, and you 
could do twice as much there as here. It is a won- 
derful place to see ; and what sort of welcome you 
will find I will say nothing about, for I have vanity 
enough to believe that you would be willing to feel 
yourself as much at home in my household as in any 
man's." Arriving at Lausanne, he writes that he 
will be ready to accommodate him in June, and goes 
on : — " We are established here, in a perfect doll's 
house, which could be put bodily into the hall of our 
Italian palazzo ; but it is the most lovely and deli- 
cious situation imaginable, and there is a spare bed- 
room, wherein we could make you as comfortable as 
need be. Bowers of roses for cigar smoking, arbours 
for cool punch-drmking, mountain and Tyrolean 
countries close at hand, piled-up Alps before the 
windows, &c. &c. &c." 

* The Hutchinson family probably. 



■?niT^ 





CHAPTER XV. 

APPEARANCE OF "DOMBEY AND SON.** 

N the 1st October, the first humber of 
" Dombey and Son " was issued by Messrs, 
Bradbury and Evans, illustrated by Phiz. 
It ran the usual twenty numbers, and on its comple- 
tion was dedicated to the Marchioness of Normanby. 

This is, perhaps, one of his least popular novels. 
The descriptions of high life are somewhat forced 
and overdrawn. Dombey is a man thoroughly to be 
detested — cruel, stern, and unbending. Little Paul 
and Captain Cuttle are the two best characters in 
the book, which contains many others excessively 
diverting. Mr. Toots, with his mania for writing 
confidential letters to himself from great and eminent 
men, and his penchant for Messrs. Burgess and Co., 
the celebrated tailors ; Perch, the messenger, and 
father of a large family ; the awful Mrs. MacStinger, 
Susan Nipper, Major Joe Bagstock, Miss Floy, &c. 

In "Dombey" Dickens has evidently endeavoured 
to describe a certain phase of "high life," and he 
has done so with much success. The character of 
the aristocratic Cousin Feenix is finished and natural. 

It may just be mentioned that Hablot K. Browne 
(Phiz), with Mr. Dickens's sanction, published some 



1846-47.1 APPEARANCE OF "DOMBEY AND SON" lyt 

additional designs — full-length portraits of the cha- 
racters contained in the novel. 

While the story was progressing, an enterprising 
publisher, in January, 1847, started in weekly penny 
numbers " Dombey and Daughter," coolly announcing 
its appearance thus : — 

"This work is from the pen of one of the first Periodical Writers of 
the day ; and is, in literary merit (although so low in price), no way inferior 
to Mr. Dickens's admirable work, ' Dombey and Son.' Those who are 
reading ' Dombey and Son ' should most assuredly order ' Dombey and 
Daughter ; ' it is a production of exalted intellect, written to sustain 
moral example and virtuous precept — deeply to interest, and sagely to 
instruct. 

"Order of any Bookseller or Newsvendor. — One Penny will test the 
truth of this announcement." 

The public thought differently, and nothing further 
was heard of the work. 

Early in 1847, in a letter to Lady Blessington, 
Dickens wrote : — *' I begin to doubt whether I had 
anything to do with a book called * Dombey,' or ever 
sat over number five (not finished a fortnight yet), 
day after day, until I half began, like the monk in 
poor Wilkie's story, to think it the only reality in 
life, and to mistake all the realities for short-lived 
shadows."* 

In the preface to the new edition in 1858, Is this 
note : — " I began this book by the Lake of Geneva, 
and went on with it for some months in France. 

* It may be remembered how this same beautiful story of 
Wilkie's, was diiFerently applied by Mr. Dickens, in the last 
speech he ever made at the Royal Academy dinner. 



:.-^Vi' 



172 L/FE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1846-47. 

The association between the writing and the place of 
writing is so curiously strong in my mind, that at 
this day, although I know every stair in the little 
midshipman's house, and could swear to every pew 
in the church in which Florence was married, or to 
every young gentleman's bedstead in Doctor Blimber's 
establishment, I yet confusedly imagine Captain 
Cuttle as secluding himself from Mrs. MacStinger 
among the mountains of Switzerland. Similarly, 
when I am reminded by any chance of what it was 
that the waves were always saying, I wander in my 
fancy for a whole winter night about the streets of 
Paris — as I really did, with a heavy heart, on the 
night when my little friend and I parted company 
for ever."* 

* The Philadelphia Morning Post says : — Dickens, while in 
this city, was very anxious to purchase Mr. James Hamilton's 
painting, entitled " What are the Wild Waves Saying ? " But 
as this beautiful work, one of the artist's best, was already sold, 
Mr. Dickens requested that he might see the original sketch, 
with which he was, so greatly pleased that he insisted upon buying 
it. Mr. Hamilton refused to sell the picture, but presented it 
to Mr. Dickens. The other day the artist received from Mr. 
Dickens an exquisite edition of his novels, accompanied by the 
following autograph : — *' Gad's-hill Place, Higham by Rochester, 
Kent, Monday, Twenty-fifth May, i868, to Mr. James Hamil- 
ton, this set of my books with thanks and regard. — Charles 
Dickens.'* It is certain that Charles Dickens's genius never 
suggested a more imaginative picture than this masterpiece, and 
his appreciation of Hamilton could not have been more deli- 
cately shown. 



1846-470 APPEARANCE OF " DOMBEY AND SON" 17s 

Lord Cockburn, in a letter under date 31st of 
January, 1847, wrote to the author: — 

"Oh, my dear, dear Dickens ! What a iNiu. 5 you 
have given us ! I have so cried and sobbed over it 
last night, and again this morning ; and felt my 
heart purified by those tears, and blessed and loved 
you for making me shed them ; and I never can bless 
and love you enough. Since that divine Nelly was 
found in her humble couch, beneath the snow and 
ivy, there has been nothing like the actual dying of 
that sweet Paul, in the summershine of that lofty 
room." 

A high medical authority assures us, that in the 
author's description of the last illness of Mrs. Skew- 
ton, he actually anticipated the clinical researches of 
M. Dax, Broca, and Hughlings Jackson, on the con- 
nection of right hemiplegia with asphasia. 

The story was cleverly dramatized and well 
represented at the Marylebone Theatre, in June, 
1849, and its success was in proportion to its 
merits. 

In the spring of 1846, on April 6th, the first 
Anniversary Festival of the General Theatrical 
Fund Association was held at the London Tavern. 
Dickens was in the chair, and made some admirable 
hits in his most effective speech, as when he said, 
in speaking of the " base uses " to which the two 
great theatres were then being applied : — "Covent 
Garden is now but a vision of the past. You might 
play the bottle conjuror with its dramatic company, 



T74 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1846-47. 

and put them all into a pint bottle. Tne human 
voice is rarely heard within its walls, save in con- 
nection with corn, or the ambidextrous prestidigita- 
tion of the Wizard of the North. In like manner, 
Drury Lane is conducted now with almost a sole 
view to the opera and ballet, insomuch that the 
statue of Shakspeare over the door serves as em- 
phatically to point out his grave as his bust did in 
the church of Stratford-upon-Avon." 

What, too, can be happier than his pleadings for 
the poor actor : — " Hazlitt has well said that ^ There 
is no class of society whom so many persons regard 
with affection as actors. We greet them on the stage, 
we like to meet them in the streets ; they almost 
always recall to us pleasant associations.' When they 
have strutted and fretted their hour upon the stage, 
let them not be heard no more — but let them be 
heard sometimes to say that they are happy in their 
old age. When they have passed for the last time 
from behind that glittering row of lights with which 
we are 9.II familiar, let them not pass away into 
gloom and darkness, — but let them pass into cheer- 
fulness and light — into a contented and happy 
home." * 

Writing to Jerrold from Geneva, in November, 
1846, he says : "This day week I finished my little 
Christmas book (writing towards the close the exact 
words of a passage in your affectionate letter,-|- 

* Given entire in " The Speeches of Charles Dickens." 

t Jerrold, in the letter referred to by Dickens, had said (in 



1847.] APPEARANCE OF " DOMBEY AND SON." 175 

received this morning ; to wit, * After all, life has 
something serious in it ') ; and ran over here for a 
week's rest. I cannot tell you how much true 
gratification I have had in your most hearty letter. 
Forster told me that the same spirit breathed through 
a notice of ' Dombey ' in your paper ; and I have 
been saying since to K. and G., that there is no such 
good way of testing the worth of a literary friendship 
as by comparing its influence on one's mind with any 
that literary animosity can produce. Mr. W. will 
throw me into a violent fit of anger for the moment, 
it is true ; but his acts and deeds pass into the death 
of all bad things next day, and rot out of my memory ; 
whereas a generous sympathy like yours is ever 
present to me, ever fresh and new to me — always 
stimulating, cheerful, and delightful. The pain of 
unjust malice is lost in an hour. The pleasure of a 
generous friendship is the steadiest joy in the world. 
What a glorious and comfortable thing that is to 
think of! 

"No, I don't get the paper* regularly. To the 

deprecating Gilbert A'Beckett's '* Comic History of England ") : 
" After all, life has something serious in it. It cannot be all a 
comic history of humanity. Some men would, I believe, write 
the Comic Sermon on the Mount. Think of a Comic History 
of England; the drollery of Alfred; the fun of Sir Thomas 
More in the Tower ; the farce of his daughter begging the dead 
head, and clasping it in her coffin, on her bosom. Surely the 
world will be sick of this blasphemy." 
* Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper, 



176 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1847. 

best of my recollection, I have not had more 
than three numbers — certainly not more than four. 
But I knew how busy you must be, and had no 
expectation of hearing from you until I wrote from 
Paris (as I intended doing), and implored you to 
come and make merry with us there. I am truly 
pleased to receive your good account of that enter- 
prise I have had great success 

again in magnetism. E , who has been with iiij 

for a week or so, holds my magnetic powers in 
great veneration, and I really think they are, by 
some conjunction of chances, strong. Let them, 
or something else, hold you to me by the 
heart" 

"The Battle of Life (a Love Story)" was the 
Christmas book referred to in the beginning of the 
foregoing letter. Messrs. Bradbury and Evans were 
the publishers, and Maclise, Leech, Stanfield, and 
Doyle the illustrators. It was a great favourite, and 
enjoyed considerable popularity, on account of its 
poetical tendency. 

Clemency Newcome is a spiritedly drawn and 
(veil-conceived character, as are Messrs, Snitchley 
and Craggs, the solicitors, Dr. Jeddler, his daughters, 
Heathfield, and Michael Warden, they all displaying 
considerable care and painstaking in their treatment. 
Benjamin Britain, sometimes called Little Britain, to 
distinguish him from Great, is an oddity. He ex- 
presses himself in a conversation to this effect : — 
" I don't knt)w anything, I don't care for anything, I 



1847.] APPEARANCE OF " DOMBEY AND SON." 177 

don't make out anything, I don't believe anything, 
and I don't want anything." 

The Lyceum reopened on the 2ist December, with 
a dramatic version of the story by Albert Smith 
— Clemency Newcome sustained by Mrs. Keeley ; 
Benjamin Britain, by Mr. Keeley; Alfred Heathfield, 
Leigh Murray; and Doctor Jeddler, Mr. Frank 
Matthews. At Astley's Theatre, in March, 1867, a 
clever adaptation was performed, and ran a con- 
siderable time» 



^-.^^c^^^PSS^^^^^^ — 



f - itP ■!*wu»»4^f^ 






CHAPTER XVI. 



VICTOR HUGO. — THE HAUNTED MAN. 




ROM Paris, early in 1847, our author writes 
to Lady Blessington, describing his visit to 
Victor Hugo, then residing in the French 
capital. Twelve months after this, the great French 
novelist had to fly. The coup d'etat brought about a 
new order of things : — 

"We were (writes Dickens) at V. H.'s house last 
Sunday week — a most extraordinary place, something 
like an old curiosity shop, or the property-room of 
some gloomy, vast old theatre. I was much struck 
hy H. himself, who looks like a genius — he is, every 
inch of him, and is very interesting and satisfactory 
from head to foot. His wife is a handsome woman, 
with flashing black eyes. There is also a charming 
=ditto daughter, of fifteen or sixteen, with ditto eyes. 
Sitting among old armour and old tapestry, and old 
coffers, and grim old chairs and tables, and old 
canopies of state from old palaces, and old golden 
lions going to play' at skittles with ponderous old 
golden balls, that made a most romantic show, and 



1847.] VICTOR HUGO, 179 

looked like a chapter out of one of his own 
books." 

The letter is most interesting in a double sense. 
It shows us Victor Hugo's tastes in decoration, and 
those objects in his house upon which his eye would 
continually rest, and which would help to form 
drapery and literary illustration for his fictions ; and 
it shows us in an oblique manner what were 
Dickens's notions in these matters, and the sym- 
pathy — if any — in such surroundings, between the 
two men. 

During this year an announcement appeared that 
Shakspeare's house at Stratford-upon-Avon was to 
be sold. A public meeting was held, and a committee 
organized. By subscriptions, and a grand perform- 
ance at Covent Garden Theatre, on 7th December 
— all the principal actors and actresses taking 
part therein — and readings by Macready, prior 
to his retirement, a sufficient sum (;^ 3,000) was 
realized. 

To provide for the proper care and custody of the 
house and its relics, a series of amateur entertain- 
ments were given. Messrs. Charles Knight, Peter 
Cunningham, and John Payne Collier were the Di- 
rectors of the General Management, and Dickens 
the Stage Manager. w. 

The first performance took place at the Haymarket 
Theatre on May 15, 1848, the play selected being 
" The Merry Wives of Windsor," with the following 
cast ; — 

M 2 



i8o 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1847. 



Sir John FalstafF 
Fenton ... 
Shallow 
Slender... 

Mr. Ford 

Mr. Page 

Sir Hugh Evans 

Dr. Caius 

Host of the Garter Inn 

Bardolph 

Pistol , 

Nym 

Robin ... 
Simple... 
Rugby ... 

Mrs. Ford 

Mrs. Page 

Mrs. Anne Page 



Mr. Mark Lemon. 
Mr. Charles Romer. 
Mr. Charles Dickens. 
Mr. John Leech. 
Mr. Forster. 
Mr. Frank Stone. 
Mr. G. H. Lewes. 
Mr. Dudley Costello. 
Mr. Fredk. Dickens. 
Mr. Cole. 

Mr. Geo. Cruikshank. 
Mr. Augustus Dickens. 
Miss Robins. 
Mr. Augustus Egg. 
Mr. Eaton. 
Miss Fortesque. 
Miss Kenworthy. 
Miss Anne Romer. 
Mrs. Cowden Clarke. 



Mrs. guickly 

Towards the close of the year 1847 he was invited 
by the good people of Leeds to attend a soiree 
at their Mechanics' Institution.* One clause of his 
speech was in his most characteristic manner. He is 
speaking of a class of politicians who object to 
educate the lower orders any more than up to a 
certain point, because " Knowledge is power " : — 

"1 never heard but one tangible position taken 
against educational establishments for the people, 
and that was, that in this or that instance, or in these 
or those instances, education for the people has 
failed. And I have never traced even this to its 
source but I have found that the term education, so 



* December, 1847. 



1847-48.] - THE HAUNTED MAN. i8t 

employed, meant anything but education — implied 
the mere imperfect application of old, ignorant, pre- 
posterous spelling-book lessons to the meanest pur- 
poses — as if you should teach a child that there is no 
higher end in electricity, for example, than expressly 
to strike a mutton-pie out of the hand of a greedy 
boy — and on which it is as unreasonable to found an 
objection to education in a comprehensive sense, as it 
would be to object altogether to the combing of 
youthful hair, because in a certain charity-school 
they had a practice of combing it into the pupils* 
eyes." 

" Dombey and Son " interfering with his arrange- 
ments, the Christmas of 1847 passed without the 
usual appearance of a separate story, but the ensu- 
ing Christmas " The Haunted Man, and the Ghost's 
Bargain " was published by Messrs. Bradbury and 
Evans. This is, perhaps, his least popular little 
book, although considerable skill and vigorous 
writing are apparent. Redlaw, the Haunted Man, is a 
creation of sad and sombre hue. The most genial 
parts are the accounts of Tetterby, the struggling 
newsvendor, and his family, not forgetting Johnny, 
and the Moloch baby, Sally. 

In a little sketch of Mr. Dickens which appeared 
many years ago, it was said, — " If stories told by 
booksellers of extraordinary sales be true, this last 
Christmas volume met with quite as much favour as 
any of the rest. But somehow, when it was read, it 
did not please. The ' Haunted Man ' did not long 



f 



X82 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1847. 



haunt our memories. It had a peculiar purpose, 
opposed to the first part of the old saw, * Forget and 
forgive.' This extract will place before us the moral 
of the tale : — 

" ' I have no learning,' said Milly, * and you have 
much ; I am not used to think, and you are always 
thinking. May I tell you why it seems to me a 
good thing to remember wrong that has been done 



us?' 
"'Yes.' 



" * That we may forgive it.* 

" * Pardon me, great heaven,' said Redlaw, lifting 
up his eyes, *for having thrown away thine own 
attribute ! ' 

" ' And if,' said Milly, ' if your own memory should 
one day be restored, as we will hope and pray it may 
be, would it not be a blessing to you to recall at once 
a wrong and its forgiveness ? ' 

"Alas for human nature, how few can do 
this ! " 

Happy he from whose memory wrong is quickly 
effaced ; and unfortunate that mind which, in recall- 
ing an injury, feels again the poignancy of the wound. 
We fear that forgiveness, or what looks like it, the 
absence of rancour, often comes through forgetful- 
ness. We fear that it ever must be so ; that few will 
remember vividly, and forgive perfectly. In ordinary 
minds, then, forgetfulness and forgiveness will be com- 
panions, and for them the old motto is a good one ; 
but it is the highest part of the highest creed, to 



1847.] THE HAUNTED MAN, 183 

forgive before memory sleeps, and ever to remember 
how the good overcame the evil. 

It has been remarked that the illustrious novelist 
has curiously mistaken the legend of the old portrait, 
on which this story is built, — " Lord, keep, my me- 
mory green," which we take to be a wish that the 
fame of the man shall survive to aftertimes, so as to 
verify Herrick's sweet lines, — 

"Only the actions of the just 
Smell sweet, and blossom in the duit^^ 

Whilst Mr. Dickens makes it mean, "Lord, allow 
my recollection (mental power of remembrance^^ ta 
be unimpaired ;" like Swift's prayer that he should 
not die mad, viewing with fear the awful contingency 
of loss of mind. 

" From Marlborough's eyes the tears of dotage flow. 
And swift expire, a driveller and a show." 

At the Adelphi and the Polytechnic Institution 
this story, by the aid of the patent Pepper's-ghost 
apparatus, some three or four years since, excited 
considerable attention, and the satisfactory result, in 
a monetary sense, was testified by the fact of the 
numerous audiences at each representation. 

The five little Christmas books which we have 
separately noticed under the year of their issue, were 
published in one volume, and entitled '^Christmas 
Books." ' To this Mr. Dickens contributed a new 
and admirable preface. 

Three days after Christmas-day, 1847, Dickens 



184 ^^P^ O^ CHARLES DICKENS. [1847. 

was in Glasgow, presiding at the opening of the new 
Athenaeum there. The burden of his speech was 
*' What constituted Real Education ? " 

"Mere reading and writing is not education/' he 
said ; " it would be quite as reasonable to call bricks 
and mortar architecture — oils and colours art — reeds 
and catgut music — or the child's spelling-books 
the works of Shakspeare, Milton, or Bacon — as to 
call the lowest rudiments of education, education, 
and to visit on that most abused and slandered word 
their failure in any instance." These and kindred 
sentiments were very warmly received, and were 
acknowledged in a complimentary speech by Sir 
Archibald (then Mr.) Alison. 



^^^^^^^^^^ 




CHAPTER XVII. 




DICKENS AND THACKERAY. — ** DAVID COPPER- 
FIELD." 

R. DICKENS had hitherto met with no 
competitor in the field of English fiction. 
He had early won the attention of readers, 
but no writer had arisen to divide the honour with 
him. Another novelist, however, was now beginning 
to be talked of. On the ist of February, 1847, Mr. 
Thackeray had issued the first monthly portion of 
" Vanity Fair," in the yellow wrapper which served 
to distinguish it from Mr. Dickens's stories, and, 
after some twelve months had passed, critics began 
to speak of the work in terms of approbation. The 
Edinburgh Review ^ criticising it in January, 1848, 
says, — "The great charm of this work is its entire 
freedom from mannerism and affectation both in 
style and sentiment. * * * His pathos (though 
not so deep as Mr. Dickens's) is exquisite ; the more 
so, perhaps, because he seems to struggle against it, 
and to be half ashamed of being caught in the melt- 
ing mood ; but the attempt to be caustic, satirical, 
ironical, or philosophical, on such occasions, is uni- 
formly vain ;_ and again and again have we found 



z86 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1848. 



reason to admire how an originally fine and kind 
nature remains essentially free from worldliness, and, 
in the highest pride of intellect, pays homage to the 
heart." 

From this time forward a friendly rivalry ensued 
between the two representatives of the two schools 
of English fiction. We say "rivalry," but it never 
could have existed from Dickens's side, for, when 
"Vanity Fair" was at its best, finding six thousand 
purchasers a month, Dickens was taking the shillings 
from thirty to forty thousand readers ; but the 
gossips of society have always asserted that there 
was a rivalry, and made comparisons so very fre- 
quently between the two great men, that we inci- 
dentally allude to it here. More than once has 
Thackeray said to the present writer (or words very 
similar) : — " Ah ! they talk to me of popularity, with 
a sale of little more than one half of 10,000 ! Why, 
look at that lucky fellow, Dickens, with heaven 
knows how many readers, and certainly not less than 
30,000 buyers ! " But the fact is easily explained — 
only cultivated readers enjoy Thackeray, whereas 
both cultivated and uncultivated read Dickens with 
delight. 

To return to Mr. Dickens's new book — "David 
Copperfield," one of the finest and certainly one of 
the most popular of its author's works. The first 
number appeared May ist, 1849, with illustrations by 
" Phiz." It extended to the usual twenty numbers, 
and on its completion was issued by Messrs. Brad- 



1849] *' DAVID COPPERFIELD:' 187 

bury and Evans, with a dedication to the Honour- 
able Mr. and Mrs. Richard Watson of Rockingham. 

The work, as we have previously remarked, is a 
great favourite, and such it deserves to be, for to our 
mind it is the happiest of all his fictions. It was the 
first that we read, and well do we remember the 
exquisite delight with which we eagerly devoured its 
pages — a rough seaman's copy of the American 
edition, which had been lent as an immense favour — 
and, boy-like, appreciated and sympathized with 
David in his youthful struggles. At that time we 
had just quitted the house of a distant relative with 
whom we had been residing, and who in very many 
respects — so far as trying to break David's spirit in 
before going to Salem House — greatly resembled 
the treatment shown towards ourselves. 

The book is written in a delightfully easy, earnest, 
yet most graceful manner ; the plot is well contrived 
and never forced. It has often been hinted that in 
many ways it is partly autobiographical — the hero 
beginning at the law, turning parliamentary reporter, 
and finally winding up as a successful novelist, all 
of which the world knows have been Mr. Dickens's 
experiences. In fact, it is generally believed to 
occupy the same position to Dickens as " Pendennis '* 
does to Thackeray. 

The peculiar commencement and description of 
Blunderstone Rookery ; the birth of the posthumous 
child ; the second marriage of David's mother to 
Murdstone ; his early days, and the wonderful croco- 



i88 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1849. 

dile book ; Peggotty, and the courtship of Barkis the 
carrier, leaving his offerings behind the door ; Mrs, 
Gummidge, Steerforth, the famous Micawbers, Betsy 
Trotwood, the kind-hearted aunt, and her aversion 
to donkeys ; Mr. Dick and his memorial, and his 
inability to keep Charles I. out of it ; David's love 
of darling Dora Spenlow, their marriage, and the 
dreadful troubles encountered in house-keeping, her 
death, and his consequent journey to Switzerland, 
and coming home, and marrying Agnes Wickfield ; 
the villanies of Uriah Heep ; the eccentricities of Miss 
Mowcher, the corn extractor ; Emily, the poor 
seduced girl ; the magnificent description of the storm 
at Yarmouth, in which Steerforth the betrayer meets 
his death, while Ham, seeking to save him, meets the 
same fate ; the love of Daniel Peggotty for his niece, 
and his patient search after her ; Traddles and his 
ultimate success, and the starting off to the Antipodes 
of the Micawbers, Peggotty, Martha, Emily, and Mrs. 
Gummidge, their life in the bush, and how they 
prospered, are each and all described in such glowing 
language, destitute of exaggeration, and bearing so 
strongly the impress of truth and reality, that they 
cannot fail to charm and delight the reader. It 
would be impertinent further to point out — to our 
mind — the best points in the book, and one can but 
thank God that such a writer has penned a work 
that can never be too much read or admired. 

In the latest edition of " David Copperfield " — in 
the " Charles Dickens Edition " — the author takes us 



1. 



1849] ''DAVID COPPERFIELD: 189 

into his confidence, and tells us that it was his 
favourite child. He says : — " I remarked, in the 
original preface to this book, that I did not find it 
easy to get sufficiently away from it, in the first sen- 
sations of having finished, to refer to it with the 
composure which this formal heading would seem to 
require. My interest in it was so recent and strong, 
and my mind so divided between pleasure and regret 
— pleasure in the achievement of a long design, 
regret in the separation from many companions — that 
I was in danger of wearying the reader with personal 
confidences and private emotions. Besides which, 
all that I could have said of the story, to any pur- 
pose, I had endeavoured to say in it. It would con- 
cern the reader little, perhaps, to know how sorrow- 
fully the pen is laid down at the close of a two 
years' imaginative task ; or how an author feels as if 
he were dismissing some portion of himself into the 
shadowy world, when a crowd of the creatures of 
his brain are going from him for ever. Yet I had 
nothing else to tell ; unless, indeed, I were to confess 
(which might be of less moment still) that no one 
can ever believe this narrative in the reading, more 
than I believed it in the writing. So true are these 
avowals at the present day, that I can only now take 
the reader into one confidence more. Of all my 
books, I like this the best. It will easily be believed 
that I am a fond parent of every child of my fancy, 
and that no one can love them as dearly as I love 
them ; but, like many fond parer^ts, I have, in my 



19© LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS, [1849. 

heart of hearts, a favourite child, and his name is 
David Copperfield." 

At the Strand Theatre, on October 21st, 1850, 
Almar's adaptation was played under the title of 
"Born with a Caul." The Surrey Theatre, in the 
following month, had a much better version ; Mr. 
Thomas Mead as Peggotty, and the renowned Mr. 
Widdicomb combining the characters of Miss 
Mowcher and Mr. Micawber. But the most success- 
ful representation of all was "The Deal Boatman" 
at Drury Lane theatre, two or three years since, in 
two acts, by Mr. Burnand. 

Mr. Dickens was living at this time at No. i, 
Devonshire Terrace, in the New Road. In his 
"American Notes," in "Martin Chuzzlewit," and 
elsewhere in his writings, and occasionally in his 
speeches, he had expressed his disapproval of capital 
punishment. He now resolved to be a witness at a 
" hanging match " — as it is frequently called by the 
lower orders — and afterwards publish his experiences. 
The trial of the notorious Mannings had recently 
startled society, and it was thought that the hanging 
of such notable wretches would at least afford a fair 
specimen of the riot and demoralization attending 
a London public execution. For the purpose of 
seeing the whole ceremony, and giving the institu- 
tion a fair trial, he left his house with a friend, on 
the evening previous, determined to make a night 
of it in the crowd fronting the Southwark scaffold. 
The following letter to the Times was the result ; — 



1849.] ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 191 

" I was a witness of the execution at Horsemonger 
Lane this morning. I went there with the intention 
of observing the crowd gathered to behold it, and I 
had excellent opportunities of doing so at intervals 
all through the night, and continuously from day- 
break until after the spectacle was over. I do not 
address you on the subject with any intention of dis- 
cussing the abstract question of capital punishment, 
or any of the arguments of its opponents or advo- 
cates. I simply wish to turn this dreadful expe- 
rience to some account for the general good, by 
taking the readiest and most public means of advert- 
ing to an intimation given by Sir G. Grey, in the last 
session of Parliament, that the Government might be 
induced to give its support to a measure making the 
infliction of capital punishment a private solemnity 
within the prison-walls (with such guarantees for the 
last sentence of the law being inexorably and surely 
administered as should be satisfactory to the public 
at large), and of most earnestly beseeching Sir G. 
Grey, as a solemn duty which he owes to society, 
and a responsibility which he cannot for ever put 
away, to originate such a legislative change himself. 
I believe that a sight so inconceivably awful as the 
wickedness and levity of the immense crowd collected 
at that execution this morning, could be imagined by 
no man, and could be presented in no heathen land 
under the sun. The horrors of the crime which brought 
the wretched murderers to it, faded in my mind 
before the atrocious bearing, looks, and language of 



l^^^^m^ 



192 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1849. 

the assembled spectators. When I came upon the 
scene at midnight, the shrillness of the cries and 
howls that were raised frorn time to time, denoting 
that they came from a concourse of boys and girls 
assembled in the best places, made my blood run 
cold. As the night went on, screeching and laughing, 
and yelling in strong chorus of parodies on negro 
melodies, with substitutions of ' Mrs. Manning ' for 
* Susannah,' and the like, were added to these. When 
the day dawned, thieves, low prostitutes, ruffians, 
and vagabonds of every kind, flocked , on to the 
ground, with every variety of offensive and foul 
behaviour. Fightings, faintings, whistlings, imita- 
tions of Punch, brutal jokes, tumultuous demon- 
strations of indecent delight, 3vhen swooning women 
were dragged out of the crowd by the police with their 
dresses disordered, gave a new zest to the general 
entertainment. When the sun rose brightly — as it 
did — it gilded thousands upon thousands of up- 
turned faces, so inexpressibly odious in their brutal 
mirth or callousness, that a man had cause to feel 
ashamed of the shape he wore, and to shrink from 
himself, as fashioned in the image of the Devil. 
When the two miserable creatures who attracted all 
this ghastly sight about them were turned quivering 
into the air, there was no more emotion, no more 
pity, no more thought that two immortal souls had 
gone to judgment, no more restraint in any of the 
previous obscenities, than if the name of Christ had 
never been heard in this world, and there were no 



1849.] ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 193 

belief among men but that they perished like the 
beasts. I have seen, habitually, some of the worst 
sources of general contamination and corruption in 
this country, and I think there are not many phases 
of London life that could surprise me. I am 
solemnly convinced that nothing that ingenuity could 
devise to be done in this city, in the same compass 
of time, could work such ruin as one public execu- 
tion, and I stand astounded and appalled by the 
wickedness it exhibits. I do not believe that any 
community can prosper where such a scene of horror 
and demoralization as was enacted this morning out- 
side Horsemonger Lane Gaol, is presented at the 
very doors of good citizens, and is passed by, un- 
known or forgotten. And when, in our prayers and 
thanksgivings for the season, we are humbly express- 
ing before God our desire to remove the moral evils 
of the land, I would ask your readers to consider 
whether it is not a time to think of this one, and to 
root it out. 

" Tuesday ^ November i^jth!* 
The great question of " public hanging " occupied 
Dickens's attention for some time after. The horrors 
of that night and the morning preceding the Manning 
execution he could not readily forget. Some days 
after he wrote to the Times^ he addressed a long 
letter to his friend Douglas Jerrold, who was adverse 
to hanging, but thought that whilst it continued m 
the land, it should take place in public. Dickens 
thus remonstrates with his friend : — " In a letter I 



194 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1849 

have received from G. this morning he quotes a 
recent letter from you, in which you deprecate the 
* mystery' of private hanging. 

''Will you consider what punishment there is, 
except death, to which ' mystery ' does not attach ? 
Will you consider whether all the improvements in 
prisons and punishments that have been made within 
the last twenty years have or have not been all pro- 
ductive of 'mystery?' I can remember very well 
when the silent system was objected to as mysterious, 
and opposed to the genius of English society. Yet 
there is no question that it has been a great benefit 
The prison vans are mysterious vehicles ; but surely 
they are better than the old system of marching 
prisoners through the streets chained to a long chain, 
like the galley-slaves in * Don Quixote.' Is there no 
mystery about transportation, and our manner of 
sending men away to Norfolk Island, or elsewhere ? 
None in abandoning the use of a man's name, and 
knowing him only by a number .? Is not the whole 
improved and altered system, from the beginning to 
end, a mystery } I wish I could induce you to feel 
justified in leaving that word to the platform people, 
on the strength of your knowledge of what crime 
was, and of what its punishments were, in the days 
when there was no mystery connected with these 
things, and all was as open as Bridewell when Ned 
Ward went to see the women whipped." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

''HOUSEHOLD WORDS." — THE GUILD OF 
LITERATURE. 



OTWITHSTANDING past experiences in 
connection with the Daily News, Mr. 
Dickens was still desirous of some peri- 
odical in which he could hold frequent and regular 
intercourse with his readers. Early in 1850, our 
indefatigable author projected the Household Words , 
a name which was more or less familiar to the 
public through a line in Shakspeare's Henry V. — 
" Familiar in their mouths as * Household Words' " 
It is just worth while in passing to say that this 
motto was a favourite with Mr. Dickens. He often 
used it in conversation, long before a periodical 
of the kind was dreamt of. As far back as his 
first visit to America, when he was addressing 
the young men of Boston, and Washington Irving, 
Holmes, and other celebrities were present, he 
said — " You have in America great writers — 
great writers — who will live in all time, and are 
as familiar to our lips as household words." * 

* Feb, I, 1842. 

N 2 



196 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1850. 



And afterwards, in his speeches, the motto was 
not uncommon. 

On Saturday, March 30th, 1850, was issued the 
first number of ^'Household Words, price 2d., con- 
ducted by Charles Dickens." 

No article had the name of its author appended, 
and when the "Conductor" proposed to Jerrold 
that he should contribute to its pages, but added 
that his name could not appear, as the journal was 
anonymous, the wit replied, "Ay, I see it is, for 
there's the name of Charles Dickens on every 
page." 

Amongst the original contributors to Household 
Words may be mentioned John Forster, W. H. Wills, 
George Augustus Sala, Moy Thomas, John HoUIngs- 
head. Miss Martineau, Professor Morley, Edmund 
Yates, Dr. Charles Mackay, Andrew Halliday, 
Edmund Oilier, and many other talented writers. It 
was the great delight of the " Conductor " to draw 
around him the rising talent — the new men who 
gave evidence of literary ability ; and many a 
mark have they made in the pages of Household 
Words ! 

Connected with Household Words, at the end of 
each month, appeared the Household Narrative, con- 
taining a history of the preceding month. It began 
in April of this year, and involved Mr. Dickens in 
a dispute with the Stamp Office. An information 
was laid against the Narrative, it being contended 
that, under the Stamp Duty Act, it was a newspaper; 



18S0-SI.J '* HOUSEHOLD WORDS." 197 

but, on appeal to the Court of Exchequer, the Barons 
decided in Mr. Dickens's favour, and thus the first 
step to the repeal of the newspaper stamp was given. 
The publication was not a success, people preferring 
to pay for amusement and information combined, 
rather than for the latter in a purely statistical form. 
It stopped at about the 70th number, and sets are 
now rare. 

But to return to Household Words. A friend who 
knew Dickens writes; — "His editorship of this 
periodical was no nominal post. Papers sent in for 
approval invariably went through a preliminary 
'testing ' by the acting editor (Mr. W. H. Wills) ; but 
all those which survived this ordeal were con- 
scientiously read and judged by Mr. Dickens, who 
again read all the accepted contributions in proof, 
and made numerous and valuable alterations in 
them." Besides the ordinary tales and articles upon 
popular topics, there appeared in Household Words, 
in good time for the festive season, and during the first 
year, a collection of stories, connected entirely with 
Christmas, — viz. "A Christmas Tree," and " A Christ- 
mas Pudding," " Christmas in the Navy, in Lodgings, 
in India, in the Frozen Regions, in the Bush, and 
among the Sick and Poor of London," and " House- 
hold Christmas Carols." 

In the ensuing January, Dickens commenced 
therein his " Child's History of England," which in 
the following year was reprinted in a separate form 
by Messrs. Bradbury and Evans, and inscribed :— 



igS LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1850-51. 

" TO MY OWN DEAR CHILDREN, 

WHOM I HOPE IT MAY HELP, BY-AND-BY, TO READ WITH 

INTEREST LARGER AND BETTER BOOKS ON THE 

SAME SUBJECT." 

The Battle of Hastings is one of the finest and 
most marvellous pieces of descriptive writing in the 
** Child's History," which — as has been well remarked 
— " might be read by many children of larger growth 
with much profit." This is an extract from his 
glowing description : — '* The sun rose high and sank, 
and the battle still raged. Through all the wild 
October day, the clash and din resounded in the air. 
In the red sunset, in the white moonlight, heaps upon 
heaps of dead men lay strewn, a dreadful spectacle, 
all over the ground. King Harold, wounded with an 
arrow in the eye, was nearly bHnd. His brothers 
were already killed. Twenty Norman knights, whose 
battered armour had flashed fiery and golden all day 
long, and now looked silvery in the moonlight, 
dashed forward to seize the royal banner from the 
English knights and soldiers, still faithfully collected 
round their blinded king. The king received a 
mortal wound and dropped." 

If the remainder of the description is turned into 
blank verse (as Byron did when copying " Werner " 
from the " Canterbury Tales " of Miss Lee), by 
adding two w^ords, and expunging some few others, 
we obtain this glowing and beautiful narration : — 



i8si.] *' HOUSEHOLD WORDSr 199 

" The English broke and fled. 
The Normans rallied, and the day was lost ! 
Oh, what a sight beneath the moon and stars ! 
The lights were shining in the victor's tent 
(Pitch'd near the spot where blinded Harold fell) ; 
He and his knights carousing were within ; 
Soldiers with torches, going to and fro. 
Sought for the corpse of Harold 'mongst the dead. 
The Warrior, work'd with stones and golden thread. 
Lay low, all torn, and soil'd with English blood. 
And the three Lions kept watch o'er the field ! " 

The work has never been reprinted at a lower price 
than the old three-volume form, and of course it 
forms no part of the recent " Cheap Editions " and 
the " Charles Dickens Edition ; " but, now that extra 
attention will be directed to the writings of Mr. 
Dickens, it is to be hoped that it may be reprinted 
at a moderate price. 

The second Christmas number (185 1) of Household 
Words consisted of nine stories about Christmas, and 
how it was held, and what it was like in different 
companies and countries — in fact, very similar to the 
preceding number. 

At the Sixth Annual Dinner of the General Thea- 
trical Fund (April 14, 185 1), the conductors again 
begged Mr. Dickens to preside. His speech was 
short, but exceedingly happy. Speaking of the 
Theatrical Fund, he said : — 

** It is a society in which the word exclusiveness is 
wholly unknowri. It is a society which includes every 



20O LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1851. 

actor, whether he be Benedick or Hamlet, or the 
Ghost, or the Bandit, or the court-physician, or, in 
the one person, the whole King's army. He may do 
the " Kght business," or the " heavy," or the comic, or 
the eccentric. He may be the captain who courts 
the young lady, whose uncle still unaccountably per- 
sists in dressing himself in a costume one hundred 
years older than his time. Or he may be the young 
lady's brother in the white gloves and inexpressibles, 
whose duty in the family appears to be to listen to 
the female members of it whenever they sing, and to 
shake hands with everybody between all the verses. 
Or he may be the baron who gives the fete, and who 
sits uneasily on the sofa under a canopy with the 
baroness while the fete is going on. Or he may be the 
peasant at the fete who comes on the stage to swell 
the drinking chorus, and who, it may be observed, 
always turns his glass upside down before he begins 
to drink out of it. Or he may be the clown who 
takes away the doorstep of the house where the 
evening party is going on. Or he may be the gentle- 
man who issues out of the house on the false alarm, 
and is precipitated into the area. Or, to come to the 
actresses, she may be the fairy who resides for ever 
in a revolving star, with an occasional visit to a bower 
or a palace. Or the actor may be the armed head 
of the witches cauldron ; or even that extraordinary 
witch, concerning whom I have observed, in country 
places, that he is much less like the notion formed 
from the description of Hopkins than the Malcolm or 



i8si.] THE GUILD OF LITERATURE. 20X 

Donalbain of the previous scenes. This society, in 
short, says, " Be you what you may, be you actor or 
actress, be your path in your profession never so 
high, or never so low, never so haughty, or never 
so humble, we offer you the means of doing 
good to yourselves, and of doing good to your 
brethren." 

In June, 185 1, a. project — which, it is said, Mr. 
Dickens had long had in contemplation — was brought 
forward by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, namely, the 
founding of a Guild of Literature and Art ; in reality, 
a provident fund and benefit society for unfortunate 
literary men and artists. From it the proper persons 
would receive continual or occasional relief, as the 
case might be ; but the leading feature was the 
" Provident Fund," to be composed of monies de- 
posited by the authors themselves, when they were 
in a position to be able to lay by something. Dickens 
and Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton (since a peer) were 
the most active promoters. The precise plan of the 
" Guild " was discussed at Lord Lytton's seat, at 
Knebworth, the November previously. There had 
been three amateur performances, by Dickens and 
others, of " Every Man in his Humour," for the 
gratification of his lordship and his neighbouring 
friends, when it was arranged that his lordship should 
write a comedy, and Dickens and Mark Lemon a 
farce. The comedy was entitled " Not so Bad as 
we Seem," and the farce bore the name of " Mrs. 



a02 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1851. 

Nightingale's Diary." The first performance took 
place at Devonshire House, before the Queen, the 
Prince Consort, and the Court circles ; and afterwards 
at the Hanover Square Rooms, and at many of the 
large provincial towns (Bath, Bristol, &c.). At Devon- 
shire House, not the least incident occurred to shade 
what a late Drury-Lane manager might, in his own 
Titanic way, have called "the blaze of triumph." 
From the first moment that the scheme was made 
known to her Majesty and Prince Albert, both the 
Queen and the Prince manifested the liveliest 
interest in its success. The Duke of Devonshire, 
with a munificence that made the name of his 
Grace a proverb for liberality, dedicated his man- 
sion to the cause of Literature and Art, and his 
house was for many days in possession of the ama- 
teurs. 

The play began at half-past nine. Her Majesty, 
Prince Albert, and the Royal Family occupying a 
box erected for the occasion. The seats were filled 
by the most illustrious for rank and genius. There 
was the Duchess of Sutherland ; there was the 
** Iron Duke," in his best temper ; there was 
Macaulay, Chevalier Bunsen, Van der Weyer — them- 
selves authors ; in fact, all the highest representatives 
of the rank, beauty, and genius of England, and her 
foreign Ambassadors. 

The list of the performers, and the parts taken by 
them, is a curiosity in its way : — 



x85i.] THE GUILD OF LITERATURE. 

MEN. 

rr«i- T> 1 c\ 'Peers attached to \ 
The Duke of i ^i r t 

the son or James 



ao3 



TT 1 Mr. Frank Stone. 

cai'ledTT^e^^^- Dudley Cosccllo. 



Middlesex, 
The Earl of 

' ) Pretender j 

Lord Wilmot, a young man af\ 

the head of the mode more f , , ^, , ^x- i 
,1 ^ .. T J r Mr. Charles Dickens. 

than a century ago, son to Lord t 

Loftus .., ... ... ) 

Mr. Shadowly Softhead, a young S 

gentleman from the City, friend > Mr. Douglas Jerrold. 

and double to Lord Wilmot... ) 
Mr. Hardman, a rising Member | 

of Parliament, and adherent to > Mr. John Forster. 

Sir Robert Walpole j 

Sir Geoffrey Thornside, a gentle- 1 j^^^ Mark Lemon. 

man or good family and estate ) 
Mr. Goodenough Easy, in busi-^ 

ness, highly respectable, and a > Mr. E. W. Topham. 

friend to Sir Geoffrey ) 

Lord Le Trimm.er, "^ Frequenters '\ Mr. Peter Cunningham. 
Sir Thomas Timid, \ of Will's V Mr. Westland Marston. 
Colonel Flint, ) Coffeehouse ) Mr. R. H. Home. 

Mr. Jacob Tonson, a Bookseller . Mr. Charles Knight. 
Smart, Valet to Lord Wilmot ... Mr. Wilkie Collins. 
Hodge, Servant to Sir Geoffrey ) jj^_ j^^^ ^^ 

Thornside... ... ... ) 

Paddy O'Sullivan, Mr. Fallen's | ji^_ ^^^^^^ g^„_ 

Landlord ... ... ... ) 

Mr. David Fallen, Grub Street, 7n-rA ^-c Ar.A 

Author and Pamphleteer ^ ... j ^'\ ^^^^^^^ ^gg, A.R.A. 
Lord Strongbow, Sir John Bruin, Coffeehouse Loungers, Drawers, 
Newsmen, Watchmen, &c., &c. 

WOMEN. 

"^ThoS''.." ^"..°"*Zl M«- Compton. 
Barbara, daughter to Mr. Easy... Miss Ellen Chaplin. 
The Silent Lady of Deadman's Lane. 



204 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1851. 

The Royal party paid the deepest attention to the 
progress of the play, Her Majesty frequently leading 
the applause. And when the curtain fell upon the 
three hours' triumph, Her Majesty rose in her box, 
and by the most cordial demonstration of approval, 
" commanded " (for such may be the word) the re- 
appearance of all the actors, again to receive the 
Royal approval of their efforts. Nor did the Queen 
and Prince merely bestow applause. Her Majesty took 
seventeen places for herself, visitors, and suite ; and, 
further, as a joint contribution of herself and the 
Prince, headed the list of subscriptions with £i^Oy 
making the sum total of £22^. It is said that the 
receipts of the night exceeded ^^ 1,000. Another re- 
presentation at Devonshire House took place on the 
following Tuesday, the admission being £2. The 
farce written for the occasion, called "Mrs. Night- 
ingale's Diary," was performed, and Charles Dickens 
and Mark Lemon sustained the principal characters. 
A critic at the time remarked, "Both these gen- 
tlemen are admirable actors. It is by no means 
amateur playing with them. Dickens seizes the strong 
points of a character, bringing them out as effectively 
upon the stage as his pen undyingly marks them upon 
paper. Lemon has all the ease of a finished per- 
former, with a capital relish for comedy and broad 
farce." 

For the representations in the provinces a portable 
theatre was constructed, Messrs. Clarkson Stanfield, 
David Roberts, Grieve, and others, painting the 
scenes, &c., which are said to have been very beau- 



38SI-S2.] THE GUILD OF LITERATURE. 205 

tiful. The funds raised were unfortunately, by a flaw 
in the act of parliament, unintentionally tied up for 
a number of years, but on Saturday, July 29th, 1865, 
the surviving members of the Fund proceeded to the 
neighbourhood of Stevenage, near the magnificent 
seat of the president, Lord Lytton, to inspect three 
houses built in the gothic style on the ground given 
by him for that purpose. An enterprising publican 
in the vicinity had just previously opened his estab- 
lishment, which bore the very appropriate sign of 
"Our Mutual Friend "—Mr. Dickens's then latest 
work — and caused considerable merriment. 

So popular had Mr. Dickens become in the 
character of president or chairman at the anniver- 
saries of benevolent societies, that the gardeners 
begged him to officiate for them at their dinner and 
meeting of the " Gardeners' Benevolent Institution." 
The affair came off on the 14th June, 1852, at the 
London Tavern. The splendid display of flowers was 
the result of a very hearty combination of the very 
best efforts of the best gardeners, and Mr. Dickens 
(to use his own phrase) " burst into bloom " upon the 
culture of flowers and fruits in such a way as to 
astonish his auditory. 

The Household Words Christmas number for 1852 
was entitled "A Round of Stories by the Christmas 
Fire," told by A Poor Relation— A Child— Somebody 
—An Old Nurse— The " Boots "—A Grandfather— 
A Charwoman — A Deaf Playmate — A Guest — and 
A Mother. 



&MWMWMWMMWM 



CHAPTER XIX. 

"BLEAK HOUSE." — LEIGH HUNT. 




WO years had now elapsed since the com- 
pletion of " David Copperfield," and a new 
novel was announced, to appear in the old 
familiar serial form, under the title of "Bleak 
House." It is not generally known, we believe, that 
the name " Bleak House " was taken from that tall, 
solitary brick house which stands away from the 
others, and rising far above them, at Broadstairs — 
the house where for one, if not for two seasons, Mr. 
Dickens resided. This charming little town was for 
many years Mr. Dickens's favourite seaside resort — 
Ml fact, " Our Watering Place," as he called it in an 
article in Household Words some years since. The 
house in question is a square sullen structure — hard 
and bleak, and of course it is now one of the lions of 
the place, the guide-books and local photographers 
setting great store by it. Just below Bleak House, on 
the point that runs out to form the harbour, is the 
Tartar Frigate, the cosiest little sailor's inn, selling the 
strongest of tobacco, and the strongest-smelling rum 



18S2.] "BLEAK HOUSE." aoj 

that is to be met with around the coast. Close by is 
a rope-house, decorated with wonderful figure-heads, 
each having a wild story of shipwreck to tell. As 
you pass the little Tartar Frigate, with its red blinds 
and little door, you know what are the sounds that 
are to be heard there any night during the winter. 
The very walls must have long ago learnt " Tom 
Bowling" and the "Bay of Biscay" by heart, and 
would now be very thankful for a fresh song. Dickens 
knew the Httle inn very well, and, under the title of 
" The Tartar Frigate," he gave in Household WordSy 
some years since, an admirable description of this 
little town with a tiny harbour. The great novelist 
was fond of genuine sailors — the hardy, good- 
tempered fellows of Deal and Broadstairs — brave as 
lions, and guileless as children ; and it was to his 
being so much in their company that he doubtless 
owed his sailor look. Mr. Arthur Locker, whose 
recollections we have before quoted, saw him only a 
few weeks before his death, when he was " struck by 
his sailor-like aspect — a peculiarity observed by many 
other persons. Yet, except his two voyages to 
America, he had not been much on the sea, and was 
not, I believe, a particularly good sailor. But we all 
know his sympathy for seamen, and I think, without 
being fanciful, that his nautical air may in part be 
attributed to early Portsmouth associations." 

" Bleak House " ran through its course of num- 
bers, and appeared in a complete form in August of 
the following year : — 



ao8 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. > [1852-53. 

" DEDICATED, 

AS A REMEMBRANCE OF OUR 

FRIENDLY UNION, 

TO MY COMPANIONS 

IN THE 

GUILD OF LITERATURE AND ART.** 

The work was directed with considerable effect 
against the Court of Chancery. Lawyers and others 
were loud in their complaints at the way in which 
their favourite Court had been assailed ; but the 
majority of legal readers, whether then or even now 
practising, or connected in any shape or way with the 
Court in question — or even only as unfortunate suitors 
— can testify as to the enormous waste of time, and 
the costly procedure therein. Matters have, of late 
years, somewhat improved, but a great deal yet 
remains to be remedied. 

The author, in his preface, took the opportunity 
of defending himself from the remarks made upon 
the supposititious suit of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce,* and 
Krook's death by spontaneous combustion. The 
latter incident excited much controversy at the time, 

* Suggested, it is believed, by the celebrated case of the 
Jennings' property. Dickens had previously brought an anta- 
gonist upon himself in the person of Sir Edward Sugden (now 
Lord St. Leonards), in consequence of an article in Household 
Words, headed " Martyrs in Chancery," on the offence of Con- 
tempt of Court, and replied to by the above eminent lawryer, in 
a letter to the Times (7th January, 1851), giving a true version 
of the case therein referred to. 



«8^2-53-] LEIGH HUNT. 209 

Mr. G. H. Lewes opposing the idea strongly ; but 
Dickens maintained his ground, and referred to seve- 
ral well-authenticated cases in support of the theory. 

One of the characters in the book, Harold Skim- 
pole, an incarnation of a canting and hypocritical 
scoundrel, whom one longs to kick, was fastened 
upon as the impersonation of that kind and genial 
writer, the late Leigh Hunt. Those who had the 
good fortune to know him personally, indignantly 
refuted the calumny, and, like other unfounded ru- 
mours, the matter died out, until, after his death, the 
idea was again bruited forth. 

Mr. Thornton Hunt (his eldest son), in preparing a 
new edition of his father's famous " Autobiography," 
prefixed an introductory chapter, in which the follow- 
ing passages occur : — 

" His animation, his sympathy with what was gay 
and pleasurable, his avowed doctrine of cultivating 
cheerfulness, were manifest on the surface, and could 
be appreciated by those who knew him in society, 
most probably even exaggerated as salient traits, on 
which he himself insisted with a sort of gay mid 
ostentatious wilfulness. 

" The anxiety to recognize the right of others, the 
tendency to 'refine,' which was noted by an early 
school companion, and the propensity to elaborate 
every thought, made him, along with the direct argu- 
ment by which he sustained his own conviction, re- 
cognize and almost admit all that might be said on 
the opposite side. 

O 



■, ^yW^. 



2IO L/FB OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1852-53. 

" It is most desirable that his quaUties should be 
known as they were ; for such deficiencies as he had 
are the honest explanation of his mistakes ; while, as 
the reader may see from his writing and his conduct, 
they are not, as the faults of which he was accused 
would be, incompatible with the noblest faculties both 
of head and heart. To know Leigh Hunt as he was, 
was to hold him in reverence and love." 

Dickens, immediately, in a number oi All the Year 
Roimd, under the head of " Leigh Hunt — a Remon- 
strance," made this statement : — 

*' Four or five years ago, the writer of these lines 
was much pained by accidentally encountering a 
printed statement, *that Mr. Leigh Hunt was the 
original of Harold Skimpole in Bleak House.' The 
writer of these lines is the author of that book. 
The statement came from America. It is no disre- 
spect to that country, in which the writer has, per- 
haps, as many friends and as true an interest as any 
man that lives, goodhumouredly to state the fact 
that he has, now and then, been the subject of para- 
graphs in Transatlantic newspapers more surprisingly 
destitute of all foundation in truth than the wildest 
delusions of the wildest lunatics. For reasons born 
of this experience, he let the thing go by. 

" But since Mr. Leigh Hunt's death the statement 
has been revived in England. The delicacy and 
generosity evinced in its revival are for the rather 
late consideration of its revivers. The fact is this : — 
Exactly those graces and charms of manner which 



I852-S3-] LEIGH HUNT, an 

are remembered in the words we have quoted were 
remembered by the author of the work of fiction in 
question when he drew the character in question. 
Above all other things, that * sort of gay and osten- 
tatious wilfulness' in the humouring of a subject, 
which had many a time delighted him, and impressed 
him as being unspeakably whimsical and attractive, 
was the airy quality he wanted for the man he 
invented. Partly for this reason, and partly (he has 
since often grieved to think) for the pleasure it 
afforded him to find that delightful manner repro- 
ducing itself under his hand, he yielded to the 
temptation of too often making the character speak 
like his old friend. He no more thought, God 
forgive him ! that the admired original would ever be 
charged with the imaginary vices of the fictitious 
creature than he has himself ever thought of charging 
the blood of Desdemona and Othello on the innocent 
Academy model who sat for lago's leg in the picture. 
Even as to the mere occasional manner, he meant to 
be so cautious and conscientious that he privately 
referred the proof sheets of the first number of that 
book to two intimate literary friends of Leigh Hunt 
(both still living), and altered the whole of that part 
of the text on their discovering too strong a resem- 
blance to his * way.' 

" He cannot see the son lay this wreath on the 
father's tomb, and leave him to the possibility of 
ever thinking that the present words might have 
righted the father's memory and were left unwritten. 

O 2 



-^^"^vT.'tV- J 



212 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1852-53, 

He cannot know that his own son may have to 
explain his father when folly or malice can wound 
his heart no more, and leave this task undone." 

Mr. Thornton Hunt, alluding to his father'3 
incapacity to understand figures, frankly admitted, 
" His so-called improvidence resulted partly from 
actual disappointment in professional undertakings, 
partly from a real incapacity to understand any 
objects when they were reduced to figures,* and 
partly from a readiness of self-sacrifice, which was 
the less to be guessed by any one who knew him, since 
he seldom alluded to it, and never, except in the 
vaguest and most unintelligible terms, hinted at its 
real nature or extent." 

Very recently, and since the decease of the great 
novelist, a similar statement about Skimpole and 
Leigh Hunt, made in the columns of a daily 
journal,-|- was thus replied to by Mr. Edmund 
Oilier, an old friend of the deceased essayist : — 
"Dickens himself corrected the misapprehension in 
a paper in All the Year Round towards the close of 
1859, after Hunt's death ; and during Hunt's life, 
and after the publication of ' Bleak House,' he wrote 
a most genial paper about him in Household Words, 

* Several anecdotes have been circulated relative to the late 
Lord Macaulay's dislike to mathematics, and, acting on this 
distaste, he declined to compete for honours, but was, in consi- 
deration of his great proficiency in other studies, elected a 
fellow of his college (Trinity, Cambridge). 

t Daily News, lothjune, 1870. 



I8S2-S3-] LEIGH HUNT. 213 

It is also within my knowledge that he expressed to 
Leigh Hunt personally his regret at the Skimpole 
tnistake." 

Leigh Hunt himself, in confessing his inability at 
school to master the multiplication table, naively 
adds, "Nor do I know it to this day!" And again : — 
" I equally disliked Dr. Franklin, author of ^ Poor 
Richard's Almanack,' a heap, as it appeared to me, of 
* scoundrel maxims.'* I think I now appreciate Dr. 
Franklin as I ought ; but, although I can see the 
utility of such publications as his almanack for a 
rising commercial State, and hold it useful as a 
memorandum to uncalculating persons like myself, 
who happen to live in an old one, I think there is no 
necessity for it in commercial nations long estab- 
lished, and that it has no business in others, who do 
not found their happiness in that sort of power. 
Franklin, with all his abilities, is but at the head of 
those who think that man lives * by bread alone.' " 

And again, in his "Journal," a few years ago, that 
gentleman, after narrating several agreeable hardships 
inflicted upon him, says : — " A little before this, a 
friend in a manufacturing town was informed that I 
was a terrible speculator in the money markets ! I 

* Thomson's phrase in his " Casde of Indolence," speaking of 
a miserly money-getter : — 

" * A penny saved is a penny got ;* 

Firm to this scoundrel maxim keepeth he. 
Nor of its rigour will he bate a jot. 
Till he hath quench'd his fire and banished his pot." 



214 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1852-53. 

who was never in a market of any kind but to buy 
an apple or a flower, and who could not dabble in 
money business if I would, from sheer ignorance of 
their language ! " 

Just at this time other characters in Mr. Dickens's 
novel were selected by gossips as representing this 
or that distinguished individual. Thus Boythorne 
was affirmed to be the energetic Mr. Walter Savage 
Landor. Miss Martineau came forward in her own 
person to take the cap of Mrs. Jellaby, and to scold 
Mr. Dickens for his allusions to " blue-stockingism " 
and "Borioboola Gha." Whether there was any 
foundation for these parallels betwixt living in- 
dividuals and the characters in " Bleak House," it is 
not now likely the world will ever know, but there 
can be no doubt about one of the characters in that 
book — the French lady's maid. Mr. Dickens made no 
secret about her representing Mrs. Manning the 
murderess. Indeed he attended at her examination 
at the Police Court, and was present both at her trial 
and her execution. Her broken English, her im- 
patient gestures, and her volubility are imitated in 
the novel with marvellous exactness. 

The character of Turveydrop, we may mention, 
was always believed to portray "the first gentle- 
man in Europe," His Sacred Majesty King George 
the Fourth. 



1 




CHAPTER XX. 

AMERICAN PUBLISHERS. — THE FIRST READING. 

S many statements have recently been made 
in this country and in the United States 
respecting Mr. Dickens's relations to the 
American publishers of his works, we may say that 
"Bleak House "was his first novel issued there in the 
profits arising from the sale of which he participated. 
Up to the publication of " Dombey and Son " he 
had received nothing from America. It was understood 
that he was rather more angry with Messrs. Harper 
and Brothers — subsequently his recognized publishers 
— than with any other Transatlantic house. They 
had just begun publishing their New Monthly 
Magazine^ and the publishers of the International 
Magazifte were contesting with the Harpers the 
first place in American periodical literature. After 
a severe and indecisive struggle of a year, one of the 
conductors of the International concoiwQd an idea 
which, if successfully carried out, would have given 
the victory to that Magazine : one of its publishers 
was going abroad, and was authorized to secure from 
Mr. Dickens "advanced sheets" of his next novel 
for publication in the InternationaL 



2i6 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1852-53. 

The steamer on which he sailed had hardly got out 
of sight before Dr. Griswold, of the International, had 
given to the Evening Post a sensational paragraph, 
stating that Mr. Dickens had been engaged to write 
for the International Magazine a new novel, for which 
he was to be paid 2,000 dollars — a sum considerably- 
larger in 1850 than in 1867 — and then considered 
enormous for the favour demanded. The watchful 
Harpers, sent out in the next steamer a messenger 
who went directly to Mr. Dickens, and found him 
ready for any reasonable offer. The Post with Dr. 
Griswold's paragraph being shown him, he at once 
decided to hold the Yankees to the terms therein 
set forth, and agreed for the 2,000 dollars to furnish 
Harper and Brothers with *^ advance sheets " of the 
next novel, which was the present one of "Bleak 
House." The messenger . of the International had 
made the very great blunder of going to Mr. Dickens's 
publisher instead of to Mr. Dickens himself. The 
publisher had told him that Mr. Dickens was busy 
about private theatricals, which would probably 
absorb his attention for an indefinite period, and that 
no new novel was in contemplation. In fact, it is not 
improbable that, on account of the bargain with the 
Harpers, " Bleak House " was written, or at least 
published, before it otherwise would have been. It is 
said that Mr. Dickens has received upwards of 
100,000 dollars on the sale of his works in America. 

Early in the new year Mr. Dickens paid a visit to 
the Midland counties. Birmingham has always been 



l8S3.J AMERICAN PUBLISHERS. 217 

very partial to our great novelist, and he in turn has 
been equally partial to Birmingham. One of his 
earliest speeches was delivered here, and for services 
rendered to the town a public presentation *of a 
diamond ring and a silver salver was made to him, 
in the rooms of the Society of Artists there, on 
January 6, 1853. A banquet was subsequently given 
to him, and Mr. Dickens made three speeches on the 
occasion. 

In May of this year Dickens was the guest of the 
Lord Mayor. His lordship had invited a number of 
literary celebrities to dine with him, including Mrs. 
Beecher Stowe ard her husband, and Dickens was 
called upon to respond to Mr. Justice Talfourd's 
toast, "Anglo-Saxon Literature.'* 

Mrs. Stowe, in her " Sunny Memories of Foreign 
Lands," alludes to the occasion, and to the author of 
" Bleak House," remarking : — " Directly opposite me 
was Mr. Dickens, whom I now beheld for the first 
time, , and was surprised to see looking so young. 
Mr. Justice Talfourd made allusion to the author of 
* Uncle Tom's Cabin ' and Mr. Dickens, speaking of 
both as having employed fiction as a means of 
awakening the attention of the respective countries to 
the condition of the oppressed and suffering classes. 
We rose from table between eleven and twelve 
o'clock — that is, we ladies — and went into the draw- 
ing-room, where I was presented to Mrs. Dickens and 
several other ladies. Mrs. Dickens is a good specimen 
of a truly English woman ; tall, large, and well- 



2i8 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1853. 

developed, with fine, healthy colour, and an air of 
frankness, cheerfulness, and reliability. A friend 
whispered to me that she was as observing and fond 
of humour as her husband. After a while, the gentle- 
men came back to the drawing-room, and I had a 
few moments of very pleasant friendly conversation 
with Mr. Dickens. They are both people that one 
could not know a little of without desiring to know 
more." 

In her Adieus she said — '* I have omitted, however, 
that I went with Lady Hatherton to call on Mr. and 
Mrs. Dickens, and was sorry to find him too unwell 
to be able to see me. Mrs. Dickens, who was busy 
in attending him, also excused herself, and we saw 
her sister." 

We now come to an important event in Mr. 
Dickens's career — his first public " reading." Various 
towns claim the honour of being the first to invite 
the great novelist to read to its inhabitants ; but 
we believe Peterborough was the real scene of his 
first appearance in the capacity of a public reader. 
Reading aloud, however, to the circle of his household, 
and at those Hampstead dinners, had often been a 
source of gratification to his friends. The first allusion 
to reading his works in public was made at Birming- 
ham, 6th January, 1853, when he returned thanks 
for a present that had been made to him. He then 
promised to come next December to give two 
or three readings, from his own books, on behalf 
of the Midland Institute; suggesting that the 



1853] THE FIRST READING. 919 

novelty of such a proceeding might produce some- 
thing towards the funds of that admirable institu- 
tion. A daily journal* with which Mr. Dickens was 
formerly connected has, however, recently asserted 
that it was at Chatham that our author made his 
first public appearance ; but we believe that in the 
quiet little city of Peterborough, some few months 
before the time for the Birmingham reading had 
arrived, Mr. Dickens essayed his first public reading, 
he himself going down a day or two before to 
superintend the stage, and those " effects " which, 
however small, he never neglected. 

Whether Birmingham, Peterborough, or Chatham 
can claim the honour, there can be no question about 
the result of Mr. Dickens's efforts in this new line. 
It was an undoubted success, and was soon repeated 
for other charitable institutions in various parts of 
England. At Birmingham over ;^ 300 were collected. 
Mr. Dickens used to tell some amusing stories 
of his " reading " experiences in the provinces. At 
one town in the north, a door-keeper's opinion was 
invited by a gentleman who was entering the room 
to hear the second " reading " of the course. 

" Very fair, sir," was the reply ; " very fair ; he does 
not read amiss ; but his attitudes are poor, sir. I 
think nothing of his attitudes." 

It is tolerably well known that our author never 
experienced those bashful sensations which most 

* The Daily News, nth June, 1870. 



220 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 1.1853. 

persons experience when they come before the public 
for the first time. The reader's own recollections of 
rising to respond to toasts, even in a private circle, will 
suggest the feeling which Mr. Dickens never knew> 
Mr. George Hodder says : — " I once asked Mr, 
Dickens if he ever felt nervous in public. 

" * Not in the least,' was the answer. * The first 
time I took the chair, I felt as much confidence 
as if I had done the thing a hundred times.' 

" At a dinner to his eldest son, who was going out 
to China, the young man became warmed with the 
wine ; and Dickens, in returning thanks when his own 
health was drunk, said that after so good a dinner * a 
little transaction in tea would do his son a world of 
good.'" 

It was always this happy readiness at response, 
this being able to reply on the moment, that made 
him, as he certainly was, the best after-dinner speaker 
in England. There is an exquisite delicacy in his 
treatment of an ordinary subject, and in the selection 
of words, which, if possessed by any other speaker in 
this country — Mr. Bright, perhaps, excepted — is 
certainly not shown in any recent efforts of their 
oratory. As has been remarked, some of his speeches 
are equal to the finest pages of his printed works. 



CHAPTER XXL 




"HARD TIMES." — "SEVEN POOR TRAVELLERS." — 
"HOLLY TREE INN." 

jN August, 1854, Mr. Dickens published his 
" Hard Times," which had previously ap- 
peared in the weekly pages of Household 
Words. It was " Inscribed to TJiomas Carlyhy' for 
whom Mr. Dickens ever felt the warmest admi- 
ration. This work is treated differently to any 
of his other books, and hardly sustains his repu- 
tation, being the least read and admired of his nu- 
merous fictions. The plot is meagre and aimless. 
The personages are too often exaggerated and over- 
drawn ; the design, apparently, being to place facts, 
figures, science, and political economy in anything 
but a favourable or correct light. The education 
received by the Gradgrinds is preposterous. Mr. 
Charles Knight, in his " Passages of a Working 
Life," said : " Before I published, in 1854, my volume of 
' Knowledge is Power,' I sent a copy to my eminent 
friend (Mr. Charles Dickens), with somewhat of 
apprehension, for he was then publishing his ' Hard 
Times.' I said that I was afraid that he would set 
me down as a cold-hearted political economist. His 
reply, of the 30th of January, 1854, was very charac- 



32a UFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1854. 

teristic ; and I venture to extract it, as it may not 
only correct some erroneous notions as to his opinions 
on such subjects, but proclaim a great truth, which 
has perhaps not been sufficiently attended to by some 
of the dreary and dogmatic professors of what has 
been called the dismal science : — * My satire is against 
those who see figures and averages, and nothing else — 
the representatives of the wickedest and most 
enormous vice of this time — the men who, through 
long years to come, will do more to damage the 
really useful truths of political economy than I 
could do (if I tried) in my whole life — the addled 
heads who would take the average of cold in the 
Crimea during twelve months as a reason for cloth- 
ing a soldier in nankeen on a night when he would 
be frozen to death in fur — and who would comfort 
the labourer, in travelling twelve miles a day to 
and from his work, by telling him that the average 
distance of one inhabited place from another on the 
whole area of England is not more than four miles. 
Bah ! what have you to do with these ?' " 

An amusing parody or skit on the tale by the late 
Robert Brough appeared in "Our Miscellany," a work 
the joint production of that lamented writer and 
Mr. Edmund Yates. At the Strand Theatre, in the 
August following, a version was placed on the stage, 
and was well received, all the melancholy parts being 
cut out, and all the humour heightened as much as 
possible ; the denouement being somewhat different to 
Mr. Dick?.ns's ! The new Bill for closing the public- 



I8S4-SS-] *'HARD TJMESr 223 

houses creating great excitement and discussion at 
the time, Mr. Gradgrind was made to exhibit strong 
animosity and hostility to the proposed measure. It 
may be mentioned that an adaptation was performed 
at Astley's Theatre, with the title of " Under the 
Earth ; or, the Sons of Toil," as recently as April and 
May, 1867. 

It was in this year, on the 13th of March, that 
Dickens lost his dear friend Sir Thomas Noon Tal- 
fourd — better known as Serjeant Talfourd, the friend 
of Charles Lamb, and of many other eminent men 
of letters in his day. That Dickens keenly felt the 
loss, we know from various passages in the life of his 
deceased friend. How beautiful is this description of 
the dead man's virtues, — how delicately are his 
graces dwelt upon : — 

" The chief delight of his life was to give delight 
to others. His nature was so exquisitely kind, that to 
be kind was its highest happiness. Those who had 
the privilege of seeing him in his own home, when 
his public successes were greatest — so modest, so 
contented with little things, so interested in humble 
persons and humble efforts, so surrounded by children 
and young people, so adored in remembrance of a 
domestic generosity and greatness of heart too sacred 
to be unveiled here, can never forget the pleasure of 
that sight." 

"The Seven Poor Travellers " formed the title of the 
Christmas number for 1854. It was one of the most 
popular of the series of Christmas stories. The idea 



824 LJP^ OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1855 

was that Dickens had stayed one Christmas Eve at 
the Poor Travellers' House at Rochester (founded by- 
good old Richard Watts*), in company with six 

* The house appointed for the reception of the poor tra- 
vellers, is situated on the north side of the High Street, adjoin- 
ing to the custom-house, and is probably the original building. 
A very considerable sum was expended by the mayor and 
citizens on its repair in 1771. Agreeably to the benevolent 
design of the donor, poor travellers have lodging and four-pence 
each ; and that this charity may be more generally known, the 
following inscription is fixed over the door : — 

« RICHARD WATTS, ESQ., 

BY HIS WILL DATED 22 AuG,, 1 579, 

FOUNDED THIS CHARITY, 

FOR SIX POOR TRAVELLERS, 

WHO NOT BEING RoGUES, OR PrOCTORS, 

may receive gratis, for one night, 

Lodging, Entertainment, 

and four-pence each. 

In testimony of his Munificence, 

IN HONOUR OF HIS MeMORY, 
AND INDUCEMENT TO HIS ExAMPLE, 

NATH^- HOOD, Esq.", the present Mayor, 

HAS CAUSED THIS STONE, 

GRATEFULLY TO BE RENEWED 

AND INSCRIBED, 

A. D. 1771." 

■ The History of Rochester, 1772. 

By direction of the Court of Chancery, the large income 
derived from the property bequeathed for the support of tht 
house (being now ^^3,500 per annum), was, in pursuance of a 
scheme settled in 1855, applied in building of almshouses for 



i8ss-] THE THACKERAY DINNER. 225 

poor travellers, and entertained them with roast beef, 
turkey, and punch from the neighbouring inn, when 
each in turn told a story. His own, the history of 
Richard Doubledick, is one of the most impressive 
and beautiful stories ever written. 

On January 15th following, he presided, at the 
London Tavern, at the Annual Dinner of the Com- 
mercial Travellers' School at Wanstead. This was 
the occasion when he made a most amusing and 
sprightly speech upon " Commercials." On 27th 
Junej in the same year, he delivered a telling speech 
upon *' Reform " at Drury Lane Theatre. 

It was during this year, in July, that the much- 
talked-of private theatricals at Campden House 
were set on foot by Dickens, for the benefit of the 
Brompton Consumption Hospital. The piece per- 
formed was the " Lighthouse," a thrilling melo- 
drama, written by Mr. Wilkie Collins. Dickens took 
the part of Aaron Gurnock, the old lighthouse- 
keeper, to perfection ; Miss Dickens representing 
Phoebe; Mr. Egg, a rough sailor; and Mr. Mark 
Lemon, Jacob Bell. 

In October, 1855 — prior to his departure to 
America — a dinner was given to Mr. Thackeray at 
the London Tavern, of which one who was present 
gave the following account : — ** The Thackeray dinner 
was a triumph. Covers, we are assured, were laid for 

ten men and ten women. The result has been the erection of 
a splendid edifice, in the Elizabethan style, with two magnificent 
gateways. 

P 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1855. 



sixty ; and sixty and no more sat down precisely at 
the minute named to do honour to the great noveHst. 
Sixty very hearty shakes of the hand did Thackeray 
receive from sixty friends on that occasion ; and 
hearty cheers from sixty vociferous and friendly 
tongues followed the chairman's (Mr. Charles 
Dickens's) proposal of his health, and of wishes for 
his speedy and successful return among us. Dickens 
was never happier. He spoke as if he was fully 
conscious that it was a great occasion, and that the 
absence of even one reporter was a matter of con- 
gratulation, affording ampler room to unbend. The 
table was in the shape of a horse-shoe, having two 
vice-chairmen ; and this circumstance was wrought 
up and played with by Dickens in the true Sam 
Weller and Charles Dickens manner. Thackeray, 
who is far from what is called a good speaker, outdid 
himself. There was his usual hesitation ; but this 
hesitation becomes his manner of speaking and his 
matter, and is never unpleasant to his hearers, though 
it is, we are assured, most irksome to himself. This 
speech was full of pathos, and humour, and oddity, 
with bits of prepared parts imperfectly recollected, 
but most happily made good by the felicities of the 
passing moment. Like the ' Last Minstrel,' — 

* Each blank in faithless memory void. 
The poet's glowing thought supplied.' 

It was a speech to remember for its earnestness of 
purpose and its undoubted originality. Then the 



x8SS-] JOHNSON'S GOD-DAUGHTER. 227 

chairman quitted, and many near and at a distance 
quitted with him. Thackeray was on the move with 
the chairman, when, inspired by the moment, Jerrold 
took the chair, and Thackeray remained. Who is to 
chronicle what now passed .?— what passages of wit — 
what neat and pleasant sarcastic speeches in pro- 
posing healths — what varied and pleasant, aye, and 
at times, sarcastic acknowledgments .? Up to the 
time when Dickens left, a good reporter might have 
given all, and with ease, to future ages ; but there 
could be no reporting what followed. There were 
words too nimble and too full of flame for a dozen 
Gurneys, all ears, to catch and preserve. Few will 
forget that night. There was an ' air of wit ' about 
the room for three days after. Enough to make the 
two next companies, though downright fools, right 
witty." 

The ensuing month an appeal was made on 
behalf of Johnson's god-daughter, signed by nineteen 
eminent literary men, including Dickens, Hallam, 
Disraeli, Carlyle, Thackeray, Milman, and Macaulay. 
A large sum of money was raised, but the recipient 
did not live many years to enjoy the annuity 
secured for her, and this quaint advertisement 
appeared in the Times of the i8th of January, 
i860:— 

•*On the 15th inst., at No. 5, Minerva Place, Hatcham, 
S.E., Ann Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the late Mauritius 
Lowe, Esq., of the Royal Academy, Gold Medallist, and god- 
daughter of the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., aged 82." 

P 2 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[i85S. 



" The late Samuel Johnson^ LL.D." sounds strange 
in these days ! 

Another appeal to aid in a philanthropic cause 
was made to our author in the Christmas week, and 
again he expressed his readiness to assist. 

He read his " Christmas Carol " to an immense 
audience at the Mechanics' Institute, Sheffield, in aid 
of its funds, and we are told in the papers of the 
time that at the termination the Mayor presented 
him with a very handsome table service of cutlery, 
including, we are further told, with a circumstantiality 
which is amusing — "a pair of fish-carvers, and a 
couple of razors," in the name of the inhabitants, for 
his generous help and assistance. In thanking him, 
Dickens said that in an earnest desire to leave 
imaginative and popular literature something more 
closely associated than he found it at once with the 
private homes and the public rights of the English 
people, " he should be faithful to death."* 

This Christmas the celebrated number, entitled 
" The Holly Tree Inn," came out. The best story 
in it — of course by Dickens — was "The Boots," a 
charming sketch, the writing delightfully fresh and 
vivid. It recorded the droll adventures of a young 



* Dickens, in a letter to Charles Knight, in 1 844, alluding 
to the appearance of "Knight's Weekly Volumes," wrote him:— 

** If I can ever be of the feeblest use in advancing a pro- 
ject so intimately connected with an end on which my heart is 
set — the liberal education of the people — I shall be sincerely 
glad. All good wishes and success attend you." 



X8SS-S6.] ''HOLLY TREE INN." 029 

gentleman of the tender age of eight, running off 
with his sweetheart, aged seven, to Gretna Green. 

Mr. Johnstone dramatized it for the Strand 
Theatre, and, we may mention, it was the means of 
introducing the now celebrated Miss Herbert to the 
London boards. A much better version was pro- 
duced at the Adelphi, Mr. Benjamin Webster play- 
ing, with all those peculiar and delicate touches of 
nature he is capable of, the role of Cobbs, **the 
Boots." 



CHAPTER XXII. 

" LITTLE DORRIT." — TAVISTOCK HOUSE 
THEATRICALS. 




HE leading events in our author's career from 
the time we now begin to approach will be 
fresh in the memories of most readers. In 
the Christmas week of this year the first number of 
" Little Dorrit " appeared, and on its completion, 
twenty months later, was issued by Messrs. Bradbury 
and Evans, with illustrations by " Phiz," and dedicated 
to Clarkson Stanfield, R.A., the eminent landscape 
painter. This work was written with the express 
intention of showing the procrastination and formal 
routine of the Government administration of busi- 
ness, happily designated as "The Circumlocution 
Office," and the Tite Barnacle's family, who impede 
the machinery by their inefficiency and supercilious 
know-nothing propensities. 

Soon after it was published, Lord Lytton unwit- 
tingly furnished a specimen of the mode in which the 
despatch of public business is conducted. Receiving 
an important deputation at the Colonial Office (when 
he was Minister), it appeared that, though a memorial 
had been sent in, and due notice given, he had heard 



18SS-56.] ''LITTLE DORRIT." 231 

nothing of the matter till five minutes before, if 
indeed he had heard of it at all ; in explanation of 
which he somewhat nafvely remarked that in such 
offices " papers of importance passed through several 
departments, and required time for inspection — first 
they were sent to the Emigration Board, then to 
another office, and then to the Secretary of State, 
who might refer it to some other department." One 
cannot fail to observe the extreme vagueness of the 
final resting-place of the unfortunate document. 
" Some other department." What other department } 
This is what Mr. Clennam and his mechanical partner 
were always "wanting to know." 

The work met with an immense sale in the serial 
form, but it is not now so popular as some of the 
other works of Mr. Dickens. The story was drama- 
tized, and well represented at the Strand Theatre. 

We come now to note Dickens's change of resi- 
dence from Tavistock House, Tavistock Square, to 
Gad's Hill Place, Kent, or, as the great man himself 
always wrote it, with that amplitude and unmistake- 
able clearness which made him write, not only the day 
of the month, but the day of the week, in full at the 
head of his letters — Gad's Hill Place, Higham by 
Rochester, Kent. How he came to live here is plea- 
santly told by a friend.* 

"Though not born at Rochester, Mr. Dickens 
spent some portion of his boyhood there ; and was 
wont to tell how his father, the late Mr. John 

* Dail;^ News, 15 June, 1870. 



232 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1855-56. 

Dickens, in the course of a country ramble, pointed 
out to him as a child the house at Gad's Hill Place, 
saying, ' There, my boy ; if you work and mind your 
book, you will, perhaps, one day live in a house like 
that.' This speech sunk deep, and in after years, and 
in the course of his many long pedestrian rambles 
through the lanes and roads of the pleasant Kentish 
country, Mr. Dickens came to regard this Gad's Hill 
House lovingly, and to wish himself its possessor. 
This seemed an impossibility. The property was so 
held that there was no likelihood of its ever coming 
into the market ; and so Gad's Hill came to be 
alluded to jocularly, as representing a fancy which 
was pleasant enough in dreamland, but would never 
be realized. 

"Meanwhile the years rolled on, and Gad's Hill 
became almost forgotten. Then a further lapse of 
time, and Mr. Dickens felt a strong wish to settle in 
the country, and determined to let Tavistock House. 
About this time, and by the strangest coincidences, 
his intimate friend and close ally, Mr. W. H. Wills, 
chanced to sit next to a lady at a London dinner- 
party, who remarked, in the course of conversation, 
that a house and grounds had come into her posses- 
sion of which she wanted to dispose. The reader 
will guess the rest. The house was in Kent, was not 
far from Rochester, had this and that distinguishing 
feature which made it like Gad's Hill and like no 
other place ; and the upshot of Mr. Wills's dinner- 
table chit-chat with a lady whom he had never met 



i8s6.] •• THA YELLING ABROAD." 233 

before was, that Charles Dickens realized the dream 
of his youth, and became the possessor of Gad's 
Hill." The purchase was made in the Spring of 
1856. 

In the " Uncommercial Traveller," under the head 
of " Travelling Abroad," No. VII., Dickens makes 
this mention of it : — 

So smooth was the old high-road, and so fresh were the 
horses, and so fast went I, that it was midway between 
Gravesend and Rochester, and the widening river was bearing 
the ships, white-sailed, or black-smoked, out to sea, when I 
noticed by the wayside a very queer small boy. 

** Halloa ! " said I to the very queer small boy, '* where do 
you live ? " 

" At Chatham," says he. 

** What do you do there ? " says I. 

" I go to school," says he. 

I took him up in a moment, and we went on. 

Presently, the very queer small boy says, ** This is Gad's Hill 
we are coming to, where Falstaff went out to rob those 
travellers, and ran away." 

** You know something about Falstaff, eh ? " said I. 

*' All about him," said the very queer small boy. 

" I am old (I am nine) and I read all sorts of books. But do 
let us stop at the top of the hill and look at the house there, if 
you please! " 

" You admire that house ? " said I. 

" Bless you, sir ! " said the very queer small boy, " when I 
was not more than half as old as nine, it used to be a treat for 
me to be brought to look at it. And now I am nine, I come 
by myself to look at it. And ever since I can recollect, my 
father, seeing me so fond of it, has often said to me, * If you 



234 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1856. 

were to be very persevering and were to work hard, you might 
some day come to live in it/ Though that 's impossible ! " said 
the very queer small boy, drawing a low breath, and now star- 
ing at the house out of window with all his might. 

I was rather amazed to be told this by the very queer small 
boy, for that house happens to be m^ house, and I have reason 
to believe that what he said was true. 

Of " Gad's Hill's haunted greenness," a modern 
poet well says : — 

" There is a subtle spirit in its air ; 
The very soul of humour homes it there ; 
So is it now : of old so has it been ; 
Shakspeare from off it caught the rarest scene 

That ever shook with laughs the sides of Care ; 
Falstaff 's fine instinct for a Prince grew where 
That hill — what years since ! — show'd its Kentish green. 
Fit home for England's Vv^orld-loved Dickens." 

Before Dickens left Tavistock House, where he 
had resided for many years, and where " Bleak 
House " and " Little Dorrit " were written, he gave 
some dramatic performances which elicited the 
warmest praise from those who had the good 
fortune to be present. A large room had been fitted 
up with stage, scenery, and footlights, and his friend 
Wilkie Collins had written an entirely new drama of 
the most romantic character for the occasion. The 
title was " The Frozen Deep," and the rigours of the 
Arctic regions were scenically portrayed by Clarkson 
Stanfield, R. A., and Mr. Danson. The following rough 
outline will give some idea of the piece as then per- 
formed. First, there was a beautiful scene in Kent, 



1856.] TAVISTOCK HOUSE THEATRICALS. 235 

paiilted by Mr. Telbin, in which the members of the 
family of Captain Ebsworth and Lieutenants Crayford 
and Steventon, who are on board certain vessels en- 
gaged in an expedition at the North Pole, are assem- 
bled, and disclose the sufferings and the suspense by 
which they are agonized during the absence of their 
relatives. These consist of five young ladies — Mrs. 
Steventon (Miss Helen), Rose Ebsworth (Miss 
Kate), Lucy Orayford (Miss Hogarth), Clara Burn- 
ham (Miss Mary), and the Nurse Esther (Mrs Wills), 
with their Maid (Miss Martha). Clara Burnham has 
two lovers — one Richard Wardour, performed by Mr. 
Charles Dickens himself, and the other Frank Alders- 
ley (Mr. Wilkie Collins), to whom she is engaged. The 
former has vowed a terrible vengeance against his 
rival. And now that they are both on the Polar Seas 
together, Clara's fears are awakened, and haunt her 
imagination continually. To deepen the impression 
still more. Nurse Esther pretends to second-sight, 
and predicts the most fatal catastrophe. 

Doubts are entertained of the character of Wardour 
from his strange conduct. This arises from "the 
pangs of despised love," with which his heart still 
wrestles. As yet he knows not who his rival may be, 
and does not suspect that he dwells in the same hut 
with him. ^Lieutenant Crayford, a bluff, hearty sailor 
(Mark Lemon), takes a strong interest in him, and 
believes in his inherent goodness. But at length his 
faith gives way ; for, in a well-managed conversation, 
he penetrates the state of Wardour's soul, and forms 



836 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1856. 

of his tendencies the most awful judgment. Soon 
after Wardour makes the discovery that Aldersley is 
his rival, and his resolution is formed to accomplish 
the vengeance on which he had so long brooded. We 
next find all the party, with the young ladies, on the 
shore of Newfoundland. But Wardour and Aldersley 
are for awhile missing, and Crayford is haunted with 
a horrible suspicion that the latter has been made the 
victim of the former. Wardour in rags, wild as a 
maniac, rushes into the cave. He claims food and 
drink, part of which he takes, and carefully preserves 
the rest in a wallet. Crayford at last recognizes him 
— endeavours to seize him — ^but the madman dashes 
away, soon to return with poor exhausted Aldersley 
in his arms. He had become the preserver of the 
man whom he had seduced to the most desolate 
spots on the Arctic snows for the purpose of destroy- 
ing. He makes full reparation for his intended 
crime ; and, ere his death, blesses the union of Clara 
Burnham and Frank Aldersley. Dickens's persona- 
tion of Wardour required the best acting of a well- 
practised performer. His acting surprised all who 
witnessed it. The character was a fervid, powerful, 
and distinct individuality ; not unlike, in some 
respects, Mr. B, Webster's tragic impersonations. 
Mrs. Inchbald's' farce of " Animal Magnetism " con- 
cluded the evening's amusements, Mr. Dickens acting 
the Doctor, and Mr. Mark Lemon Pedrillo. 

On the Wednesday following, Buckstone's well- 
known farce of " Uncle John " was performed, 



i8s7-] TAVISTOCK HOUSE THEATRICALS. 237 

Mr. Dickens acting the vigorous old gentleman of 
seventy to perfection. Representations subsequently 
took place at the Gallery of Illustration, and at the 
Free Trade Hall, Manchester, for charitable purposes. 
On the 27th October, 1864, it was publicly produced 
at the Olympic Theatre, and met with a very 
enthusiastic reception. 

The death of Douglas Jerrold, in June, 1857, was 
keenly felt by Dickens. The two friends had been on 
the most intimate terms for many years, as the few 
extracts we have already given from pleasant letters 
will show. The funeral was at Norwood Cemetery. 
The coffin was of plain oak, and on each side were 
the initials, " D. J." The pall-bearers were Charles 
Dickens, W. M. Thackeray, Charles Knight, Horace 
Mayhew, Mark Lemon, Monckton Milnes (Lord 
Houghton), and Mr. Bradbury. A great gathering 
of artists and literary men surrounded the grave. 

With his usual thoughtfulness and practical kind- 
ness, he soon ascertained the position in which poor 
Mrs. Jerrold, the widow, had been left. He found, 
as he had really suspected — for few men of letters 
were such good business men as Dickens — that a 
helping hand would be necessary, and he then, in 
conjunction with Mark Lemon, Albert Smith, Arthur 
Smith, and other friends, formed a committee to 
raise a fund, which was to be known as the " Jerrold 
Fund." 

" Dickens entered warmly into the matter," re- 
marks one who knew him; "and on the day of 



238 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1857. 

Jerrold's funeral, after dining with two or three 
friends, of whom the informant was one, at the 
Garrick Club, drew up the programme of a series of 
entertainments, which was that same night taken 
round to the editors of the various newspapers for 
insertion." Arthur Smith was the honorary secre- 
tary, and an entertainment, including the per- 
formance of " The Frozen Deep," was given at the 
Egyptian Hall, on 4th July, at which the Queen, 
Prince Albert, and the Royal family were present. 
Other performances took place elsewhere, and read- 
ings were given by Thackeray and Dickens at St. 
Martin's Hall, and a large sum of money was the 
result. 

The occasion for these charitable performances 
excited considerable outcry and disapprobation in 
literary circles, Jerrold being esteemed to be a pros- 
perous man, as he received a very large salary as 
editor of Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. Dickens and 
Arthur Smith at once communicated to the papers 
the result of their labours, viz., the purchase of an 
annuity for the widow and her unmarried daughter, 
and added that they had considered their per- 
sonal responsibility a sufficient refutation to any 
untrue or preposterous statements that had obtained 
circulation as to property asserted to have been left 
by Mr. Jerrold, and that unless they had thoroughly 
known, and beyond all doubt assured themselves, that 
their exertions were needed by the dearest objects of 
Mr. Jerrold's love, those exertions would never have 



i857.] TAVISTOCK HOUSE THEATRICALS. ^ 339 

been heard of. Lord Palmerston, it may be added, 
granted to the widow an annual pension of ;^ioo 
out of the Civil List. 

It was at the anniversary dinner of the Ware- 
housemen and Clerks' Schools, held in November of 
this year, that Dickens made his well-known speech 
upon "Schools," when he told his hearers of all the 
schools he did not like, and, after a long enumera- 
tion of these, he described to them the one he did 
like. 

The Christmas number of Household Words was 
entitled "Perils of certain English Prisoners," and 
was founded on the Indian Mutiny. It was in three 
chapters, " The Island of Silver Store," " The Prison 
in the Woods," and "The Rafts on the River," 
supposed to be narrated by Gilbert Davis, private in 
the Royal Marines. It is, as may be remembered, 
full of the most exciting adventures. 






^ 






CHAPTER XXIII. 

WORKS TRANSLATED INTO FRENCH.— DICKENS 
AND THACKERAY. 



URING this year a complete and authorized 
edition of Dickens's novels was published in 
France, beginning with " Vie et Aventures 
de Nicholas Nickleby." To this the author added 
this introductory address to the French public : — 

" For a long time I have wished to see a uniform and com- 
plete translation of my works into French. Hitherto, less 
fortunate in France than in Germany, I have not been made 
known to French readers, who are not familiar with the English 
language, except by isolated and partial translations, published 
without my authority and control, and from which I have 
derived no personal advantage. The present publication has 
been proposed to me by MM. Hachette and Co., and by M. 
Charles Lahure, in terms which do honour to their elevated, 
liberal, and generous character. It has been executed with 
great care ; and the numerous difficulties it presents have been 
vanquished with uncommon ability, intelligence and persever- 
ance. I am proud of being thus presented to the French 
people, whom I sincerely love and honour." 

It must have been a great source of satisfaction to 
him, to have known that not only in Western Europe 
and America were his books, with their kindly teach- 
ings and influences for good, widely read by the com- 



?Tc' 



1858.] WORKS TRANSLATED. 241 

mon people, but that as far away as Russia there 
existed a translation of Dickens's works, all of which 
are very popular. 

" Who among us " — exclaims a writer in Vedo^ 
mostCy one of the leading journals of St. Petersburgh, 
— " does not know the genius — who has not read the 
novels of Dickens .-* There was a time when the 
Russian translators of foreign novels did almost no- 
thing else than translate the charming productions of 
Boz ! The journals and newspapers rivalled each 
other in being the first to communicate his last work. 
Every word he wrote was offered to the Russian 
reading community in five or six different periodicals, 
and as soon as the concluding part of each of his 
novels appeared in England, a variety of St. Peters- 
burgh and Moscow editions bore the fame of 
Dickens over all the East of Europe. Every scrap 
of Dickens " — exclaims the Northern critic with the 
keen appetite of his climate — " has been devoured. 
With the sole exception of Walter Scott, none 
among the English novelists has enjoyed such an 
enormous and prolonged success as Dickens." 

And since his death long obituary notices of him 
have been given in the Italian papers. The Diritto 
thinks that Sam Weller and the " modern Tartuffe," 
in "Martin Chuzzlewit,"will be immortal, like Perpetua 
and Don Abbondio in Manzoni's " Promessi Sposi," 
which have become popular types of character. The 
Nazione speak? of the deceased us the greatest of 
modern Englsh novelists. * He was," it adds, '* for 

Q 



242 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1858. 



five-and-thirty years, at once the most esteemed 
novelist and the greatest social reformer of his fel- 
low-countrymen. There will be monuments to him 
in marble and bronze, but his finest monument 
will be the good he did for the poorer classes." 

In March of this year Dickens visited Edinburgh 
to read his " Christmas Carol " to upwards of 2,000 
members of the Philosophical Institute there. After 
the reading was over, the Lord Provost presented 
him with a splendid silver wassail bowl. Dickens, 
in replying, said, "the first great public recognition and 
encouragement I ever received was bestowed on me 
by your generous and magnificent city. To come 
to Edinburgh is to me like coming home." 

And in a recent letter to the writer of an article 
in All the Year Round — entitled " Dr. Johnson from 
a Scottish Point of View " — Dickens said : " By all 
means let me have the paper proposed ; but, in Jiait- 
dling Johnson, be pleasant with the Scottish people, 
because I love them^ 

A few days after, on the 29th of March, Thackeray, 
supported by Dickens and other literary men, pre- 
sided at the Royal General Theatrical Fund Dinner 
at the Freemasons' Tavern, and in proposing the 
health of the chairman, Dickens took occasion to 
bear his testimony to the goodness, the self-denial, 
and the self-respect of the actors of England, and 
passed a very flattering encomium upon the chair- 
man's works : " It is not for me at this time, and in 
this place," he said, " to take on myself to flutter 



i8s8.'J DICKENS AND THACKERAY. 243 

before you the well-thumbed pages of Mr. Thackeray's 
books, and to tell you to observe how full they are 
of wit and wisdom, how out-speaking, and how 

devoid of fear or favour they are The 

bright and airy pages of * Vanity Fair/ . . . . 
To this skilful showman, who has so often delighted 
us, and who has charmed us again to-night, we have 
now to wish God speed, and that he may continue 
for many years to exercise his potent art. To him 
fill a bumper toast, and fervently utter, God bless 
him!" 

Alas ! the " many years " were to be barely six ! 
In 1864 the speaker himself wrote some memorial 
pages commemorative of his illustrious friend in the 
deceased author's own Cornhill Magazine. 

So much interest had been shown by the public in 
Mr. Dickens's performance of his part of the " Jer- 
rold Fund " programme, that he now determined to 
give his readings professionally, and as an avowed 
source of income. It was on the evening of Thurs- 
day, the 29th of April, 1858, that he appeared in St. 
Martin's Hall (now converted into the New Queen's 
Theatre), for the first time, as a source of personal 
profit to himself. 

We may mention, that on the 25th of the following 
month, one of the assistants in the Library at the 
British Museum, M. Louis Augistin Prevost, a great 
Hnguist, died. It was he who imparted instruction 
in the French tongue to Dickens. 

We come now to a painful matter, which occasioned 

Q 2 



«44 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1858. 



a great talk at the time, and led Mr. Dickens's 
warmest friends to marvel at the course he had 
thought fit to pursue. 

It appears that some domestic unhappiness in the 
great novelist's family had occasioned the usual 
gossip out of doors, and these "rumours and 
slanders " — as he energetically termed the whisperings 
that were so repugnant to him — led to his inserting 
a manifesto on the front page of Household Words* 

All the newspapers and journals copied it, with 
various comments, — in some cases exceedingly ran- 
corous and spiteful, — and various long letters and 
documents from friends on both sides appeared in 
the public journals. The simple explanation was, 
that a misunderstanding had arisen betwixt Mr. and 
Mrs. Dickens, of a purely domestic character — so 
domestic — almost trivial, indeed — that neither law 
nor friendly arbitration could define or fix the 
difficulty sufficiently clear to adjudicate upon it. 
All we can say is, that it was a very great pity that 
a purely family dispute should have been brought 
before the public, and saying thus much, we trust 
the reader will think we act wisely in dropping 
any further mention of it. 

That Mr. Dickens loved his home, and that his 
domestic tastes were very strong, there is abundant 
proof Hawthorne, in his "English Diary," has a 
passage apropos of this : — " Mr. Dickens mentioned 
how he preferred home enjoyments to all others, and 

• June 1 2 th. 



1858.] DICKENS AND 7 HACKER AY. 245 

did not willingly go much into society. Mrs. Dickens, 
too, the other day told us of his taking on himself all 
possible trouble as regards their domestic affairs." 

It is somewhat singular that on the very day when 
Mr. Dickens's personal explanation appeared in 
Hotcsehold Words, on that very day, 12th June, 1858, 
a paper, also of a personal character, but concern- 
ing our author's distinguished contemporary, Mr. 
W. M. Thackeray, appeared in a little journal 
called Town Talk; both articles eventually acquiring 
a painful notoriety, and the latter occasioning an 
unhappy difference between the two great men. 
The article which occasioned so much pain to Mr. 
Thackeray professed to give an account of the author 
of "Vanity Fair" — his appearance, his career, and 
his success. The article was coarse and offensive in 
tone, but it was notorious that the periodical was 
edited by a clever writer of the day, well known to 
Mr. Thackeray as a brother member of a club to 
which he belonged. As such, the subject of the 
attack felt himself compelled to take notice of it. 
This is a specimen of the article : — 
*' His Appearance. 

" Mr. Thackeray is forty-six years old, though 
from the silvery whiteness of his hair he appears 
somewhat older. He is very tall, standing upwards 
of six feet two inches. His face is bloodless, and 
not particularly expressive, but remarkable for the 
fracture of the bridge of the nose, the result of an 
accident in youth. His bearing is cold and unin- 



■."■•i 



246 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1858. 

viting, his style of conversation either openly cynical 
or affectedly good-natured and benevolent ; his bon- 
hommie is forced, his wit biting, his pride easily 
touched. 

" His Success. 

** No one succeeds better than Mr. Thackeray in 

cutting his coat according to his cloth 

Our own opinion is, that his success is on the wane." 

Two days later Mr. Thackeray addressed the 
assumed writer of this article in a manly but indig- 
nant letter. 

Subsequently Mr. Thackeray, "rather (he said) 
than have any further correspondence with the writer 
of the character," determined to submit the letters 
which had passed between them to the committee of 
the club. The committee accordingly met, and de- 
cided that the writer of the attack complained of was 
bound to make an ample apology, or to retire from 
the club. The latter contested the right of the com- 
mittee to interfere. Suits at law and proceedings in 
Chancery against the committee were threatened, 
when Mr. Dickens, who was also a member of the 
club, interfered, with the following letter : — 

** Tavistock House, Tavistock Square, London, W.C. 
"Wednesday, 24th November, 1858. 

" My dear Thackeray, — Without a word of 
prelude, I wish this note to revert to a subject on 
which I said six words to you at the Athenaeum 
when I last saw you. 



X858.] DICKENS AND THACKERAY, 247 

" Coming home from my country work, I find Mr. 
Edwin James's opinion taken on this painful question 
of the Garrick and Mr. Edmund Yates. I find it 
strong on the illegality of the Garrick proceeding. 
Not to complicate this note, or give it a formal 
appearance, I forbear from copying the opinion ; but 
I have asked to see it, and I have it, and I want to 
make no secret from you of a word of it. 

" I find Mr. Edwin James retained on the one 
side ; I hear and read of the Attorney-General being 
retained on the other. Let me, in this state of 
things, ask you a plain question. 

" Can any conference be held between me, as 
representing Mr. Yates, and an appointed friend of 
yours, as representing you, with the hope and pur- 
pose of some quiet accommodation of this deplor- 
able matter, which will satisfy the feelings of all 
concerned } 

" It is right that, in putting this to you, I should 
tell you that Mr. Yates, when you first wrote to him, 
brought your letter to me. He had recently done 
me a manly service I can never forget, in some 
private distress of mine (generally within your know- 
ledge), and he naturally thought of me as his friend 
in an emergency. I told him that his article was 
not to be defended ; but I confirmed him in his 
opinion, that it was not reasonably possible for him 
to set right what was amiss, on the receipt of a 
letter couched in the very strong terms you had 
employed. When you appealed to the Garrick com- 



S48 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



I1858. 



mittee and they called their general meeting, I said 
at that meeting that you and I had been on good 
terms for many years, and that I was very sorry to 
find myself opposed to you ; but that I was clear 
that the committee had nothing on earth to do with 
it, and that in the strength of my conviction I should 
go against them. 

" If this mediation that I have suggested can take 
place, I shall be heartily glad to do my best in it — 
and God knows in no hostile spirit towards any one, 
least of. all to you. If it cannot take place, the 
thing is at least no worse than it was ; and you will 
burn this letter, and I will burn your answer. 
" Yours faithfully, 

"Charles Dickens. 

"W. M. Thackeray, Esq." 



To this Mr. Thackeray replied : — 

''36, Onslow Square, 26th November, 1858. 

" Dear Dickens, — I grieve to gather from your 
letter that you were Mr. Yates's adviser in the dis- 
pute between me and him. His letter was the cause 
of my appeal to the Garrick Club for protection from 
insults against which I had no other remedy. 

" I placed my grievance before the committee of 
the club as the only place where I have been accus- 
tomed to meet Mr. Yates. They gave their opinion 
of his conduct, and of the reparation which lay in his 
power. Not satisfied with their sentence, Mr. Yates 
called for a general meeting; and, the meeting 



1858.] DICKENS AND THACKERAY. 249 

which he had called having declared against him, he 
declines the jurisdiction which he had asked for, and 
says he will have recourse to lawyers. 

"You say that Mr. Edwin James is strongly of 
opinion that the conduct of the club is illegal. On 
this point I can give no sort of judgment ; nor can I 
conceive that the club will be frightened, by the 
opinion of any lawyer, out of their own sense of the 
justice and honour which ought to obtain among 
gentlemen. 

" Ever since I submitted my case to the club, I 
have had, and can have, no part in the dispute. It 
is for them to judge if any reconcilement is possible 
with your friend. I subjoin the copy of a letter* 
which I wrote to the committee, and refer you to 
them' for the issue. 

"Yours, &c., 

*' W. M. Thackeray. 

" C. Dickens, Esq." 

* The enclosure referred to was as follows : — 

"Onslow Square, Nov. 28, 1858. 

" Gentlemen, — I have this day received a communication 
from Mr. Charles Dickens, relative to the dispute which has 
been so long pending, in which he says :— 

***Can any conference be held between me, as representing 
Mr. Yates, and any appointed friend of yours, as representing 
you, in the hope and purpose of some quiet accommodation of 
this deplorable matter, which will satisfy the feelings of all 
parties ? ' 

** I have written to Mr. Dickens to say, that since the com- 
mencement of this business, I have placed myself entirely in 



aso LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1858. 

the hands of the committee of the Garrick, and am still, as 
ever, prepared to abide by any decision at which they may 
arrive on the subject, I conceive I cannot, if I would, make 
the dispute once more personal, or remove it out of the court 
to which I submitted it for arbitration. 

** If you can devise any peaceful means for ending it, no one 
will be better pleased than 

*' Your obliged faithful servant, 

*' W. M. Thackeray. 

** The Committee of the Garrick Club." 

It would be in vain to attempt to conceal that this 
painful affair left a coolness between Mr. Thackeray 
and his brother novelist. Mr. Thackeray, smarting 
under the elaborate and unjust attack, portions of 
which were copied and widely circulated in other 
journals, could not but regard the friend and adviser 
of his critic as in some degree associated with it ; and 
Mr. Dickens, on the other hand, naturally hurt at 
finding his offer of arbitration rejected, gave the 
letters to the original author of the trouble for pub- 
lication, with the remark — "As the receiver of my 
letter did not respect the confidence in which it 
addressed him, there can be none left for you to 
violate. I send you what I wrote to Mr. Thackeray, 
and what he wrote to me, and you are at perfect 
liberty to print the two." Thus, for awhile, ended 
this painful affair. Readers of Disraeli's " Quarrels 
of Authors " will miss in it those sterner features of 
the dissensions between literary men as they were 
conducted in the old times ; but none can contem- 
plate this difference between the two great masters 



1858.] DICKENS AND THACKERAY. 251 

of fiction of our day with other than feelings of 
regret for the causes which led to it. 

It is pleasing, however, to learn that the differences 
between them were ended before Mr. Thackeray's 
death. Singularly enough, this happy circumstance 
occurred only a few days before the time when it 
would have been too late. The two great authors 
met by accident in the lobby of a club. They 
suddenly turned and saw each other, and the un- 
restrained impulse of both was to hold out the hand 
of forgiveness and fellowship. With that hearty 
grasp the difference which estranged them ceased 
for ever. This must have been a great consolation 
to Mr. Dickens, when he saw his great brother laid in 
the earth at Kensal Green ; and no one who read 
the beautiful and affecting article on Thackeray, from 
the hand of Mr. Dickens, which appeared in the 
Cornhill Magazine, can doubt that all trace of this 
painful affair had then vanished. 



<0<Ii-H!^^>> 




CHAPTER XXIV. 

ROYAL DRAMATIC COLLEGE. — "ALL THE YEAR 
ROUND." 

E turn now to a more pleasant theme. On the 
2 1 St July, 1858, a public meeting was held at 
the Princess's Theatre, for the purpose of 
establishing the now famous Royal Dramatic College. 
Mr. Charles Kean was the chairman, and Dickens 
delivered one of his excellent speeches on a topic ever 
dear to him — the theatrical profession. Charles Kean 
was then conducting his Shakspearian revivals — those 
splendid pageantries and archaeological displays which 
we all remember at this theatre twelve years ago — 
and Dickens, with his usual tact, turned the circum- 
stance to account in his speech. The play then being 
performed was the " Merchant of Venice," and, in 
concluding, the speaker remarked, " I could not but 
reflect, whilst Mr. Kean was speaking, that in an 
hour or two from this time the spot upon which 
we are now assembled will be transformed into the 
scene of a crafty and a cruel bond. I knew that, a 
few hours hence, the Grand Canal of Venice will flow, 
with picturesque fidelity, on the very spot where I 
now stand dryshod, and that the ' quality of mercy ' 



i8s8.] EOYAL DRAMATIC COLLEGE. 253 

will be beautifully stated to the Venetian Council by 
a learned young doctor from Padua; — on these very 
boards on which we now enlarge upon the quality of 
charity and sympathy. Knowing this, it came into 
my mind to consider how different the real bond of 
to-day from the ideal bond of to-night. Now, all 
generosity, all forbearance, all forgetfulness of little 
jealousies and unworthy divisions, all united action 
for the general good. Then, all selfishness, all 
malignity, all cruelty, all revenge, and all evil, — now 
all good. Then, a bond to be broken within the 
compass of a few — three or four — swiftly passing 
h.o\xrs,-^now, a bond to be valid and of good effect 
generations hence." 

The committee's labours were successful, and an 
elegant building, in the Elizabethan style, at Maybury, 
was the result. On June 1st, i860, the late Prince 
Consort, in laying the foundation stone, spoke of the 
Dramatic College as conferring " a benefit upon the 
public as well as upon the stage, by aiding a profession 
from which the community at large derived national 
entertainment." Five years after, on 5th June, the 
Prince of Wales inaugurated the Central Hall of the 
College. The annual Fancy Fair at the Crystal 
Palace, and the junketings thereat, it is needless to 
say, are the means of adding a large accession to the 
funds. 

During the autumn months of this year, the 
readings were continued in London, and at various 
large towns in England and Ireland ; the novelist 



«S4 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1858. 



receiving both applause and money to a greater 
extent than ever. 

It was in November, 1858, that he allowed his name 
to be put in nomination for the high office of Lord 
Rector of Glasgow University. His rivals were Lord 
Lytton (who was chosen to the office), and Lord 
Shaftesbury. The result of the poll was : 



Lord Lytton. 
216. 



Lord Shaftesbury. 
203. 



Dickens. 
68. 



The cause of this large minority is now not remem- 
bered, but it is more than probable that Dickens took 
no special pains to secure votes in his own behalf 

During the following month he was entertained at 
a public dinner by the citizens of Coventry, and 
received from them a very handsome gold w^atch, as 
a testimony of their gratitude for his reading, in aid 
of the Coventry Institute, ' twelve months before. 
The day previously he had presided at Manchester, 
in aid of an Institute there. 

Early in 1859 a dispute arose betwixt Mr. Dickens 
and his publishers, originating mainly in the unfortu- 
nate family disagreement to which we alluded on a 
former page, — and in consequence of this the con- 
ductor of Household Words resolved that the journal 
should cease, and he would close business relations 
with Messrs. Bradbury and Evans. Mr. Dickens 
advertised that the discontinuance oi Household Woj'ds 
would take place on March 28th. Messrs. Bradbury 
and Evans filed a Bill in Chancery, and the matter 



X859.1 DISCONTINUANCE OF "HOUSEHOLD WORDS." 255 

was heard by the Master of the Rolls. Both parties 
refusing to sell their interest, the winding up of the 
publication was directed. Dickens owned five-eighths, 
and had command over another eighth. At the sale, 
on 1 6th May, by Mr. Hodgson of Chaficery Lane, 
the property, after a spirited contest, was knocked 
down to Dickens (represented by Mr. Arthur Smith), 
for ;^3,550. In the last number of Household Words, 
introducing the forthcoming periodical, he wrote : — 

" He knew perfecdy well, knowing his own rights, and his 
means of attaining them, that // could not be but that this work 
must stop, if he chose to stop it. He therefore announced, 
many weeks ago, that it would be discontinued on the day on 
which this final number bears date. The public have read a 
great deal to the contrary, and will observe that it has not in 
the least affected the result." 

Messrs. Bradbury and Evans, to justify their pro- 
ceedings, published a statement, affirming — 

" That Household Words stopped against their will, and men- 
tioned the appearance of Once a Week, — remarking, at the same 
time, that their business relations with Dickens had commenced 
in 1836; that, in 1844, they acquired an interest in all works 
he might write, or in any periodical he might originate, during 
a term of seven years, and that under this agreement they became 
possessed of a joint though unequal share of Household Words, 
which started in 1850; that on the publication of his mani- 
festo as to his conjugal differences, they understood from a friend 
that he had resolved to break off his connections with them, by 
reason of its non-insertion in Punchy in which they had not 
thought fit to do so, Punch being entirely a comic publication ; 
that in the November he summoned a meeting of the proprie- 



'^-'^''??^ 



256 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1859^ 

tors, and in consequence of the advertisement announcing the 
cessation of the work, they had no alternative but to apply to 
the Master of the Rolls for protection.'* 

It was a most unfortunate affair, as Mr. C. Dickens, 
junr., had married Mr. Evans's daughter, and thus 
a family, as well as a business, disagreement came 
about. Mr. Dickens's next step was to return to his 
original publishers, Messrs. Chapman and Hall, who 
now issue all his works. 

All the Year Round was the title of Mr. Dickens's 
new venture, taking its motto, like Household Words,- 
from Shakspeare, — 

" The story of our lives from year to year.** 

In its first number was contained the commence- 
ment of "A Tale of Two Cities," subsequently pub- 
lished by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, illustrated 
by Mr. Hablot K. Browne (better known as " Phiz "), 
and dedicated to Earl Russell. 

In the preface, the author mentions that he first 
thought of the story while acting with his children 
and friends in Mr. Wilkie Collins's drama of " The 
Frozen Deep." " As the idea became familiar to me, 
it gradually shaped itself into its present form. 
Throughout its execution, it has had complete pos- 
session of me ; I have so far verified what is done and 
suffered in these pages, as ihat I have certainly done 
and suffered it all myself. .... It has been 
one of my hopes to add something to the popular 
and picturesque means of understanding that terrible 



1859-] **ALL THE YEAR ROUND,'* 257 

time, though no one can hope to add anything to 
the philosophy of Mr. Carlyle'S wonderful book." 

Dickens had the greatest respect for the works of 
that eminent writer, and it would be difficult to say 
which of the two distinguished authors, Tennyson or 
Carlyle, he was most fond of quoting. Only a few 
weeks before his death, Mr. Arthur Locker was dis- 
cussing some literary topics with him : — " On this 
occasion," that gentleman writes, " Mr. Dickens con- 
versed with me chiefly about Mr. Carlyle's writings, 
for whose * French Revolution ' he expressed the 
strongest admiration, as he has practically shown 
in his * Tale of Two Cities.' " 

The story holds the reader perfectly spell-bound. 
The power and awful grandeur exhibited in the 
descriptive scenes of bloodshed and carnage, enacted 
in the dreadful reign of Terror, are almost beyond 
conception. It has, however, occasional passages 
of humour — as, for instance, where Mr. Jeremiah 
Cruncher determines not to let his wife say her 
prayers, being of opinion that such a course of pro- 
cedure, described by him as "flopping," is injurious 
to his business ! 

Tom Taylor dramatized the story for the Lyceum, 
where it was produced the January following, but it 
met with an indifferent reception, although the prin- 
cipal character was undertaken by Madame Celeste. 

During October, Dickens gave readings at the 
Town Hall, Oxford, and attracted large audiences. 
On one occasion the Prince of Wales, then entering 

R ' 



858 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1859. 

on his career as an Oxonian, was present, and ex- 
pressed considerable satisfaction at the pleasure he 
had experienced in hearing him read. 

The reader may remember that, on an earlier page, 
we gave an account of the handsome present which 
Mr. Dickens once received from his many Birming- 
ham friends — more especially his artist friends there. 
On that occasion an address was presented to him, 
expressing the great admiration all Birmingham 
people felt for his genius. Mr. W. P. Frith, in his 
portrait of Dickens, exhibited at the Royal Academy 
in 1858, made the address form a portion of the 
picture; but a Mr. Walker, an artist of Birmingham, 
could scarcely believe that the great novelist had 
troubled himself to remember the address, so he 
wrote to know the truth of the matter, when Mr, 
Dickens immediately replied : — " I have great plea- 
sure in assuring you that the framed address in' Mr. 
Frith's portrait is the address presented to me by my 
Birmingham friends, and to which you refer. It has 
stood at my elbow, in that one place, ever since I 
received it, and, please God, it will remain at my side 
as long as I live and work." * 

It was the Christmas number for this year, " The 
Haunted House," which at the time provoked so much 
discussion on the subject of ghosts and supernatural 
visitors. The idea of the number may have been 
suggested by the appearance of a work, published a 

* Tuesday, July 20th, 1859. 



1859-] **ALL THE YEAR ROUND." 259 

few months previously, entitled " A Night in a 
Haunted House : a Tale of Facts. By the Author 
of * Kazan/ and dedicated to Charles Dickens." 
Howitt took the matter up warmly, and Dickens, in 
a letter to Howitt, said that he had always taken 
great interest in these matters, but required evidence 
such as he had not yet met with ; and that when he 
thinks of the amount of misery and injustice that con- 
stantly obtains in this world, which a word from the 
departed dead person in question could set right,* he 
would not believe — could not believe — in the War 
Office ghost without overwhelming evidence. 

Howitt sent a letter to one of the weekly papers, 
stating that " Mr. Dickens wrote me some time ago, 
to request that I would point out to him some house 
said to be haunted. I named to him two — that at 
Cheshunt, formerly inhabited by the Chapmans, and 
one at Wellington, near Newcastle. Never sctn 
former, but had the latter." Dickens went to Ches- 
hunt, and visited the house, and communicated to 
Howitt that the house in which the Chapmans lived 
has been greatly enlarged, and commands a high 
rent, and is no more disturbed than this house of 
mine." 

If any one of a nervous and superstitious tem- 
perament will read all the seven ghost stories con- 
tained in "The Haunted House," at a late hour, 

* " Oh, that it were possible, for one short hour, to see 
The souls we loved, that they might tell us 
What and where they be!" — Tennyson, 

R 2 



26o LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [i86a 

alone, and in a dull and gloomy room, a very quiet and 
comfortable night's rest may be safely calculated on ! 

About this time the Americans tried very hard 
to persuade Dickens to visit them and give his 
readings, and many of their newspapers were 
jubilant at the idea, and reported that his services 
had been secured. To dissipate all doubts, he wrote 
to Lieutenant-Colonel Foster, of Boston, U.S.A. : — 

" I beg to assure you, in reply to your obliging 
letter, that you are misinformed, and that I have no 
intention of visiting America in the ensuing autumn."* 

In the numbers for the 4th and nth August, i860, 
oi All the Year Roimdy the two portions of " Hunted 
Down " appeared. It was supposed to be a reminis- 
cence supplied by a Mr. Sampson, chief manager of 
a life assurance office, relating the history of an 
assurance effected on the life of Mr. Alfred Beckwith 
by Mr. Julius Slinkton, whom he (Slinkton) attempts 
to poison to get the money ; but, foiled in his object, 
destroys himself. The story was of a most melo- 
dramatic and sensational character. Before it 
appeared in this country, it had a six months' run in 
the New York Ledger ^ and the American publisher 
paid ;^i,ooo for the privilege. Dickens was loth to 
undertake its composition, but finally his objections 
were overcome. " I thought," he wrote to the Ameri- 
can publisher, " that I could not be tempted at this 
time to engage in any undertaking, however short, 

* Wednesday night, 7th September, 1859. 



x86o.] "ALL THE YEAR ROUND." 261 

but the literary project which will come into active 
existence next month. But your proposal is so hand- 
some that it changes my resolution, and I cannot 

refuse it I will endeavour to be at work 

upon the tale while this note is on its way to you 
across the water." The "project" referred to here 
as coming into active existence next month was " A 
Tale of Two Cities." 



CHAPTER XXV. 

*'THE UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER." 




T was at the end of this year that a series 
of quaint and descriptive papers, which had 
appeared in All the Year Rounds was pub- 
lished by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, under the 
title of " The Uncommercial Traveller." They were 
originally seventeen in number, but in a subsequent 
edition they were increased to twenty-eight papers, 
bearing such titles as " City Churches," " Sly Neigh- 
bourhoods," "Night Walks," "Chambers," "Birth- 
days," " Funerals," " Tramps." We need scarcely 
remark that they are all admirably written, and 
abound in delicate touches. In "Nurse's Stories," 
Mr. Dickens says, — " Brobingnag (which has the 
curious fate of being usually mis-spelt when writ- 
ten)." Here thp illustrious author actually falls into 
the very error he is speaking of. The proper 
spelling of the word is Brob'Dijtgnag. 

It was in the autumn of this year that Mr. Dickens 
finally removed from Tavistock House to Gad's Hill, 
a place which he had purchased four years before. 
Some arrangement, we believe, in connection with 
the lease of the I-ondon house prevented his remov- 



x86o.] '*THE UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER." 263 

insf earlier. Tavistock House thenceforward became 
the residence of Mr. Phineas Davis, a gentleman well 
known in aristocratic circles. The house next to 
Tavistock House was occupied by the late Mr, Frank 
Stone, the eminent artist, and for a long time Mr. 
Dickens's neighbour. 

The Christmas number for i860 was "A Message 
from the Sea." It was here that we became 
acquainted with Captain Jorgan, the American 
captain, and his faithful steward, Tom Pettifer. The 
Captain's task satisfactorily terminated, he shakes 
hands with the entire population of the fishing 
village, inviting the whole, without exception, to 
come and stay with him for several months at Salem, 
U.S. 

" The Seafaring Man," narrating the shipwreck, 
and the island on fire, in intensity and vividness of 
description, are wonderful pieces of writing. 

The manager of the Britannia Theatre, Hoxton, 
having announced for representation a dramatic 
adaptation of the tale, Dickens, in a letter to the 
Times, gave his reasons for interfering with its pro- 
duction. Subsequently, Mr. Charles Reade tried the 
question in his action against Mr. Conquest for repre- 
senting " Never too Late to Mend," and was unsuc- 
cessful. 

It was towards the close of this year that " Great 
Expectations," which had been published in All the 
Year Round, came out in the (for Mr. Dickens) some- 
what unusual form — the, old lending-library form — of 



'^^■: 



264 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [i860. 

three volumes, and was published by Messrs. Chap- 
man and Hall, illustrated by Marcus Stone, and 
inscribed to Mr. C. H. Townshend. It is a novel of 
the most peculiar and fantastic construction, the plot 
of an extraordinary description, and the characters 
often grotesque, and sometimes impossible. Here 
we meet with Abel Magwitch, the convict, a power- 
fully drawn character ; with Pip, a selfish, and often- 
times a pitiful fellow, but good in the end, when his 
expectations have entirely faded ; with Joe Gargery, 
the blacksmith, the finest character of all — kind, 
patient, and true to Pip, from his infancy to man- 
hood, shielding him in all his shortcomings when a 
child, and liberally spooning gravy into his plate when 
he gets talked at by Pumblechook at dinner ; with 
Miss Havisham, the broken-hearted woman, existing 
with the one idea of training her adopted child ; with 
Estella, a beautiful conception (Pip's love for her, and 
his grief when he finds her married to Bentley 
Drummle, the man without a heart to break, are 
masterpieces of description) ; with Pumblechook, that 
frightful impostor. Perhaps the most entertaining 
portions are those connected with Wemmick, the 
lawyer's clerk, his " Castle " at Walworth, and his 
peculiar ideas of portable property, his post-office 
mouth, and Mr. Jaggers, the criminal lawyer of Little 
Britain, his employer. 

^ We may here mention that " Satis House," the 
residence of Miss Havisham, lies a little to the west 
of Boley Hill, near Rochester, and derived its pecu- 



i86o.] *'THE UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER." 265 

liar name from the fact of Richard Watts (founder 
of the Poor Travellers' House previously referred 
to) entertaining Queen Elizabeth in it — when on her 
journey round the coasts of Sussex and Kent — in 
1573. Here she stayed some days, and on her 
leaving, Watts apologized for the smallness of the 
house for so great a Queen ; she merely replied 
" Satis,'' signifying she was well content with her 
accommodation. 







CHAPTER XXVI. 

MR. DICKENS AND THE ELECTORS OF FINSBURY. — 
" TOM tiddler's GROUND." — " SOMEBODY'S 
LUGGAGE."—" MRS. LIRRIPER'S LODGINGS." 

|N November of this year, some admirers in 
Finsbury formed the idea that Mr. Dickens 
would have no objections to represent that 
borough in Parliament, and his name was brought 
prominently forward as a candidate. He was then 
at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and on the 2ist of No- 
vembo^r he wrote to the Dai/j News : — " Being 
here for a day or two, I have observed, in your 
paper of yesterday, an account of a meeting of 
Finsbury electors, in which it was discussed whether 
I should be invited to become a candidate for the 
borough.* It may save some trouble if you will 
kindly confirm a sensible gentleman, who doubted 
at that meeting whether I was quite the sort of 
man for Finsbuiy. I am not at all the sort of 
man, for I believe nothing would induce me to offer 
myself as a Parliamentary representative of that 
place, or any other under the sun." 

* Consequent on the death of Mr. Thomas S. Duncombe — the 
" Tom Duncombe " of Finsbury — the late representative. 



i86i.] " TOM TIDDLER'S GROUND." 267 

In the early part of this winter he resumed his 
readings in the provinces, and met with considerable 
success, especially in Lancashire, where there was 
great enthusiasm shown to see and hear the author 
of '' Pickwick," and latterly of " Hard Times," which 
had found thousands of readers in the cotton districts. 

The Christmas number for this year, " Tom 
Tiddler's Ground," excited considerable curiosity, 
and one of the stories became a subject of general 
discussion — that of " Mr. Mopes," the hermit. " Pick- 
ing up Soot and Cinders " gives the history and 
description of the hermit, a dirty, lazy, slothful fellow, 
dressed up in a blanket fastened by a skewer, and 
revelling in soot and grease. There is one story in 
the number, called " Picking up Terrible Company," 
of the most intense sensational character. It is told 
by Francois Thierry, a French convict, under the 
head of " Picking up a Pocket-book." 

The " hermit " was a living reality — a person of 
property and education, who, to mortify his friends, 
we believe, withdrew from the world, and lived in 
rags and filth. Soon after a letter, signed " A 
County Down Lady," was inserted in the Down- 
Patrick Recorder^ in which the writer related the 
particulars of a visit she had paid to " Mr. Mopes," 
the hermit, and concluded by saying : " Charles 
Dickens offended him terribly. He pretended he 
was a Highlander, and Mr. Lucas at once began to 
question him about the country, and then spoke to 
him in Gaelic, which he couldn't reply to. Mr. Lucas 



268 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS [1862. 

said to him, ' Sir, you are an impostor ; you are no 
gentleman.' " 

A copy of the newspaper was at once for- 
warded to Mr. Dickens by a friend, who asked if 
there was any truth in the statement. The reply 
was : — " As you sent me the paper with that very 
cool account of myself in it, perhaps you want to 
know whether or not it is true. There is not a 
syllable of truth in it. I have never seen the person 
in question but once in my life, and then I was 
accompanied by Lord Orford, Mr. Arthur Helps, 
the clerk of the privy council, my eldest daughter, 
and my sister-in-law, all of whom know perfectly 
well that nothing of the sort passed. It is a sheer 
invention of the wildest kind."* Lucas, the papers 
reported, was terribly cut up by the inclement winter 
of 1866-7, and was hardly expected to get over it. 

In March, 1862, Dickens commenced a new series 
of readings at St. James's Hall, which proved a 
very advantageous speculation. He officiated as 
Chairman at the Annual Festival of the Dramatic 
Equestrian and Musical Association, on the 5th of 
the same month, at Willis's Rooms, and delivered an 
eloquent address ; he fulfilled the same duty at the 
annual dinner of the Artists' General Benevolent 
Fund, at the Freemasons' Tavern, on the 29th of 
this month, and the result was a large accession 
to its treasury. Acting in the same capacity 

* London, 27th March, 1862. 



i862.] " TOM TIDDLER'S GROUND." 269 

at the Annual Festival of the Newsvendors' and 
Provident Institution, at the last-named tavern, on 
the 20th May following, in proposing the toast 
of the evening, " Prosperity to the Newsvendors' 
Benevolent Institution," * he delivered a very amusing 
speech on " The Newsman's Calling." In the course 
of his remarks he " started off with the newsman on 
a fine May morning, to take a view of the wonder- 
ful broad-sheets which every day he scatters broad- 
cast over the country. Well, the first thing that 
occurs to me, following the' newsman, is, that every 
day we are born, that every day we are married — 
some of us — and that every day we are dead ; con- 
sequently, the first thing the newsvendor's column 
informs me is, that Atkins has been born, that 
Catkins has been married, and that Datkins is dead. 
But the most remarkable thing I immediately dis- 
cover in the next column is, that Atkins has grown 
to be seventeen years old, and that he has run away, 
for at last my eye lights on the fact that William A., 
who is seventeen years old, is adjured immediately to 
return to his disconsolate parents, and everything will 
be arranged to the satisfaction of every one. I am 
afraid he will never return, simply because, if he had 
meant to come back, he would never have gone away. 
Immediately below, I find a mysterious character in 
such a mysterious difficulty, that it is only to be 
expressed by several disjointed letters, by <5everal 

* He was elected President of the Institution in May, 1854, 



27© LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1862 

fig' ares, and several stars ; and then I find the expla- 
nation in the intimation that the writer has given 
his property over to his uncle, and that the elephant 

is on the wing I learn, to my intense 

gratification, that I need never grow old, that I may 
always preserve the juvenile bloom of my complexion; 
that if ever I turn ill it is entirely my own fault ; 
that if I have any complaint, and want brown 
cod-liver oil or Turkish baths, I am told where to get 
them ; and that if I want an income of ;^7 a week, I 
may have it by sending half-a-crown in postage- 
stamps. Then I look to the police intelligence, and 
I can discover that I may bite off a human living nose 
cheaply ; but if I take off the dead nose of a pig 
or a calf from a shop-window, it will cost me ex- 
ceedingly dear. I also find that if I allow myself to 
be betrayed into the folly of killing an inoffensive 
tradesman on his own doorstep, that little incident 
will not affect the testimonials to my character, but 
that I shall be described as a most amiable young 
man, and, as above all things, remarkable for the 
singular inoffensiveness of my character and dis- 
position." 

But the entire speech is much too long for our space. 

We have now reached another winter — that of 
1862 — and this time our novelist devoted his Christ- 
mas number, " Somebody's Luggage," to that pecu- 
liar class of individuals known as "Waiters." Mr. 
Arthur Locker truly says of it : — " We rise from the 
little story with kindlier feelings towards the whole 



1863.J *' SOMEBODY S LUGGAGE.'* 371 

race of waiters ; we know more of their struggles and 
trials, and so we sympathise with them more." Most 
of our readers will remember the description of 
Christopher, the head waiter, with his amusing 
revelations of his profession — the mysterious luggage 
left in Room 24 B, with a lien on it for £2 12s. 6d.y his 
purchasing the whole of it, and finding all the articles 
crammed full of MSS. — his subsequently selling them, 
and, on the arrival of the proofs, his horror at the 
appearance of the owner — his placing them before 
him, and the joy of the unknown at finding his 
stories in print, and sitting down, with several new 
pens and all the inkstands well filled, to correct, in 
a high state of excitement, and being discovered in 
the morning, himself and the proofs, so smeared with 
ink, that it would have been difficult to have said 
which was him, and which was them, and which was 
blots — is sufficient to keep the reader in one con- 
tinual roar of laughter. 

In the preceding year several imitation Christmas 
numbers had appeared, but this season they swarmed. 
The newspapers and the hoardings were filled with 
advertisements of them, and Mr. Dickens expressed 
great annoyance at the manner in which he was 
being copied. 

In the March following (1863), he presided at the 
eighteenth anniversary of the Royal General Theatrical 
Fund, and made a most excellent speech. 

About this time Mr. Charles Reade's " Very Hard 
Cash" was appearing in the pages of All the Year 



9J2 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



fi863. 



Rounds and that gentleman having attacked with 
virulence the Commissioners in Lunacy, Dickens, in a 
foot-note to Chapter xlvi, wrote, — 

" The Conductor of this Journal desires to take this 
opportunity of expressing his personal belief that no 
public servants do their duty with greater ability, 
humanity, and independence, than the Commissioners 
in Lunacy." 

When the story was concluded, to further show 
that the sentiments expressed in it were not those of 
Mr. Dickens — or that at least he had not controlled 
them — he wrote, 

"The statements and opinions of this Journal 
generally are, of course, to be received as the 
statements and opinions of its Conductor. But this 
is not so in the case of a work of fiction first pub- 
lished in these pages as a serial story, with the name 
of an eminent writer attached to it. When one of 
my literary brothers does me the honour to under- 
take such a task, I hold that he executes it on his 
own personal responsibility, and for the sustainment 
of his own reputation ; and I do not consider myself 
at liberty to exercise that control over his text which 
I claim as to other contributions. 

" Charles Dickens." 



He was justified in making this statement, as Mr. 
Forster, an old and true friend — and who has since 
been appointed by Mr. Dickens his principal executor 
— is one of the Commissioners. 



1863.] ''MRS. LIRRIPER'S LODGPNGS." 273 

Another Christmas has come round — the Christmas 
of 1863. " Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings" was the title 
of the number for this season, and it created an 
immense furore. The quaint manners and ideas 
of Mrs. Lirriper, lodging-house keeper,, of 81, 
Norfolk Street, Strand — her troubles with the 
domestics, willing Sophy, Mary Anne — the fiery 
Carolina fighting with the lodgers,, and being sent 
off to prison — the odious Miss Wozenham an opposi- 
tion lodging-house keeper — the adoption of poor little 
Jemmy, under the joint guardianship of her eccen- 
tric but good-hearted lodger. Major Jackman, his 
education at home, and then his being sent off to a 
boarding-school, are inimitably sketched. 

Thackeray died on Christmas Eve, 1863. In the 
February number of the Cornhill Magazine^ for the 
ensuing year, Dickens wrote a most beautiful and 
touching "In Memoriam ;" which shows in what 
estimation he was held by his surviving friend, — 

" We had our differences of opinion. I thought that 
he too much feigned a want of earnestness, and that he 
made a pretence of undervaluing his art, which was 
not good for the art that he held in trust. But, when 
we fell upon these topics, it was never very gravely, 
and I have a lively image of him in my mind, twist- 
ing both his hands in his hair, and stamping about, 
laughing, to make an end of the discussion When 
we were associated in remembrance of the late Mr, 
Douglas Jerrold, he delivered a public lecture iii 
London, in th^ course of which he read his very best 

S 



274 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1863. 



contribution to Ptuich, describing the grown-up cares 
of a poor family of young children. No one hearing 
him could have doubted his natural gentleness, or his 
thoroughly unaffected manly sympathy with the weak 
and lowly. He read the paper most pathetically, 
and with a simplicity of tenderness that certainly 
moved one of his audience to tears. This was 
presently after his standing for Oxford, from which 
place he had dispatched his agent to me, with a 
droll note (to which he afterwards added a verbal 
postscript), urging me to " come down and make a 
speech, and tell them who he was, for he doubted 
whether more than two of the electors had ever 
heard of him,* and he thought there might be as 
many as six or eight who had heard of me." He 
introduced the lecture just mentioned with a reference 

* This anecdote from " Thackeray ; the Humourist and the 
Man of Letters," by Theodore Taylor, may be fittingly 
appended : — 

" Pray, what can I do to serve you, sir ?" inquired the vice- 
chancellor. — " My name is Thackeray." — " So I see by this 
card." — " I seek permission to lecture within the precincts." — 
"Ah! you are a lecturer; what subjects do you undertake, 
religious or political?" — "Neither; I am a literary man." — 
" Have you written anything?" — "Yes; lam the author of 
* Vanity Fair.'" — " I presume a Dissenter; has that anything 
to do with John Bunyan's book?" — "Not exactly; I have also 
written * Pendennis.'" — "Never heard of these works: but no 
doubt they are proper books." — "I have also contributed to 
Punch r — ^^ Punch! I have heard of that; is it not a ribald 
publication ? '» ' • 



x863.] "PINCHEE." 875 

to his late electioneering failure, which was full of 
good sense, good spirits, and good humour. He had 
a particular delight in boys, and an excellent way 
with them. I remember his once asking me, with a 
fantastic gravity, when he had been Jo Eton, where 
my eldest son then was, whether I felt as he did in 
regard of never seeing a boy without wanting 
instantly to give him a sovereign } I thought of 
this when I looked down into his grave, after he was 
laid there, for I looked down into it over the shoulder 
of a boy to whom he had been kind." 

Frequently, in the numbers oi Household Words y and 
in All the Year Round, has Mr. Dickens given us an 
anecdote, a biographical scrap concerning himself, or 
an article which could only be considered as "per- 
sonal ;" and no future biographer of the great man 
can tell the complete story of his life without having 
recourse to the pages of these magazines. 

The anecdotes we have already given of Dickens's 
ravens show his fondness for animals. Mr. Collam, 
Secretary of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty 
to Animals, now kindly directs our attention to the 
great novelist's admirable paper in All the Year 
Round* entitled " Pincher Astray : an account of 
the Home for Lost and Starving Dogs," at Holloway. 
The paper records the adventures of a favourite dog, 
Fincher : — 

"He was not handsome — at least, in the common 

• January 30, 1864. 

S 2 



976 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1863. 

acceptation of the term He was a morose 

beast, and of most uncertain temper He 

was the terror of the tradespeople : he loathed the 
butcher ; he had a deadly hatred for the fishmonger's 
boy ; and, when I complained to the post-office of 
the non-receipt in due course of a letter from my 
aunt's legal adviser, advising me to repair at once to 
the old lady's death-bed (owing to which non-receipt 
I was cut out of my aunt's will), I was answered that 
'the savage character of my dog — a circumstance 
with which the department could not interfere — 
prevented the letter-carrier from the due performance 
of his functions after nightfall.' Still I loved Pincher 
— still I love him ! What though my trousers-ends 
were frayed into hanging strips by his teeth ; what 
though my slippers are a mass of chewed pulp ; 
what though he has towzled all the corners of the 
manuscript of my work on Logarithms — shall I 
reproach him now that he is lost to me ? Never !" 

Pincher strayed away — ^was lost. Application was 
made at the " Home," which afforded Mr. Dickens an 
opportunity to describe that institution, but he was 
not there. After some days he returned "with a 
rufifled coat, a torn ear, a fierceness of eye which 
bespoke recent trouble. I afterwards learned that he 
had been a principal in a combat held in the adjoining 
parish, where he acquitted himself with a certain 
amount of honour, and was pinning his adversary, 
when a rustic person from a farm broke in upon the 
ring, and kicked both the combatants out of it. This 



1864.] " PINCHER." 277 

ignominy was more than Pincher could bear ; he 
flung himself upon the rustic's leg, and brought him 
to the ground : then fled, and remained hidden in a 
wood until hunger compelled him to come home. 
We have interchanged no communication since, but 
regard each other with sulky dignity. I perceive 
that he intends to remain obdurate until I make the 
first advances." 

Early in the new year Mr. Dickens received intelli- 
gence of the death of his son, Walter Landor Dickens, 
in the Officers' Hospital at Calcutta. He was a lieu- 
tenant of the 26th Native Infantry Regiment, and 
had been doing duty with the 42nd Highlanders. 
His decease occurred on the last day of the old 
year. 

During this spring he was requested by the Work- 
ing Men's Shakspeare Memorial Committee to take 
the chief direction in planting the " Shakspeare Oak " 
on Primrose Hill. Mr. F. G. Tomlins, a well-known 
litterateur y and at one time editor of the Leader 
newspaper, wrote to him, stating the working men's 
wishes, and Mr. Dickens at once replied : — " I am 
truly honoured by the feeling of the working men 
towards me, as expressed in your note, and would 
far rather take part in their interesting proceedings 
than in any other ceremonial held on that day. 

"But I am not free. The request, unfortunately, 
comes too late. I have declined several public in- 

• Wednesday, 12th April, 1864. 



278 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1864. 

vltations on the ground that I had resolved to take 
part in none, and had bound myself to a few personal 
friends for a quiet, private remembrance of the 
occasion. From this conclusion I cannot now de- 
part. Do me the kindness to assure the delegates, 
with whom you are in communication, of my cordial 
sympathy and respect." 



CHAPTER XXVII, 



"OUR MUTUAL FRIEND." — "DOCTOR MARIGOLD'S 
PRESCRIPTIONS." — " MUGBY JUNCTION." 




ICKENS was a guest at the Anniversary 
Banquet at the Royal Academy, on ist 
May, 1864; and Mr. John Forster, respond- 
ing to the toast, " The Interests of Literature," grace- 
fully remarked : — " In fiction, I see not only the 
great master of character and humour (Mr. Dickens) 
who has held sway over both now for more than a 
quarter of a century, and this very day starts after 
new laurels with as much vigour and freshness as 
when he first began the race." 

"Our Mutual Friend " was the work alluded to by 
Mr. Forster, and Number I. was published on the ist 
of May, by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, with illustra- 
tions by Mr. Marcus Stone. 

The plot is most ingeniously constructed, and 
each character an elaborate and highly executed 
portrait, although, perhaps, occasionally verging on 
caricature. 

Miss Jenny Wren, the entertaining Doll's dress- 
maker ; her drunken father, " Fascination " Fledgeby ; 
Riah, the patient and kind-hearted Jew ; Silas Wegg, 



28o LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1864. 

the wooden-legged individual, a parasite and selfish 
impostor, " literary man " to Boffin, employed at the 
rate of twopence-halfpenny an hour to read and 
expound the " Decline and Fall of the Rooshian Em- 
pire," otherwise "Roman Enipire.;" John Harman ; 
Lizzie Hexam ; Venus, the anatomical artist ; Bradley 
Headstone ; Mr, and Mrs. Boffin ; and Bella Wilfer, 
daughter of the Cherub ; are the best-remembered 
characters in the book. The story is somewhat im- 
probable, and contains many scenes of horror and 
crime. Taken as a specimen of literary workman- 
ship, it is his best production since " David Copper- 
field," but it is not popular with readers. 

Mr. Crabb Robinson has preserved in his Diary 
some playful lines by Southey ; but his editor has 
omitted to add a circumstance which would have 
increased their interest. They were written in the 
album of Mrs. S. C. Hall, and the opposite page 
contained the autographs of Joseph Bonaparte and 
Daniel O'Connell, a circumstance which suggested 
what the Laureate wrote : — 

*' Birds of a feather flock together. 
But vide the opposite page ; 
Ana thence you may gather I'm not of a feather 
With some of the birds in this cage." 

KoBERT SouTHEY, 22nd October, 1836. 

Some years a.lterwards; Charles Dickens, good- 
humouredly referring to Southey's change of opinion, 
wrote in the album, immediately under Southey's 
lines, the following : — 



Ii^- 



1864.] "OUR MUTUAL FRIEND," s8i 

** Now, if I don't make 

The completest mistake 
That ever put man in a rage. 

This bird of two weathers 

Has moulted his feathers. 
And left them in some other cage." — Boz. 

When these last lines first appeared in the Art Jour- 
nal, a friend of Southey's, resenting Boz's remark, 
retaliated by " good-humouredly referring" to the 
change of style between " Pickwick " and " Our 
Mutual Friend/* and wrote in the margin of the 
periodical — 

**Put his Jint work and last work together. 
And learn from the groans of all men. 
That if he 's not alter 'd his feather. 
He 's certainly alter'd his pen." 

"Our Mutual Friend" was dramatized as "The 
Golden Dustman," and was acted on June i6th, 1866, 
with great ability, at the Sadler's Wells, and after- 
wards at Astley's and the Britannia Theatres. 

Dickens, on the nth of May, 1864, presided at the 
Adelphi Theatre, at a public meeting for the purpose 
of founding the Shakspeare Foundation Schools, in 
connection with the Royal Dramatic College. On 
this occasion he made — as usual — an admirable 
speech, and a large sum of money was collected. 

* During the summer of this year, and whilst on a 
trip to Paris, Mr. Dickens met with a sunstroke, 
which greatly alarmed his friends. For many hours 



282 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1864-65. 

he was in a state of complete insensibility, but at 
length recovered, and in due course returned home. 

The interest taken in "Mrs. Lirriper and her 
Lodgings," the preceding Christmas, induced Dickens 
to give a sequel to the old lady's experiences. 
Accordingly, in the Christmas of 1 864, we had " Mrs. 
Lirriper's Legacy." This narrated the death, in France, 
of Mr. Edson, the father of Jemmy ; the journey of 
Mrs. Lirriper, the Major, and Master Jem, to the 
deathbed of the repentant man ; their adventures 
going and returning; the revelations of the extra- 
ordinary conduct of her brother-in-law. Doctor 
Joshua Lirriper ; the vagaries of Mr. Buffle, the 
collector of the assessed taxes ; her meritorious 
conduct towards him and his family on the night 
of the fire, and also, when Miss Wozenham was in 
danger of being sold up, lending her money to pay 
the execution out, and becoming intimate friends ; 
— are all very charmingly and amusingly described. 

A little matter occurred in the following March, 
to which we may just allude in passing. Mr. 
Dickens had nominated, and Mr. Wilkie Collins 
seconded, a very intimate friend as a member of 
the Garrick Club, to which they both belonged. The 
committee, for some unaccountable reason, black- 
balled the gentleman ; Dickens and Collins, disgusted 
at this treatment, resigned their membership, and the 
affair for the moment created some considerable stir 
in the literary world. 

On the 9th May he presided at the annual festival 



1865.] THE STAPLEHURST ACCIDENT. 283 

of the Newsvendors' Benevolent and Provident Asso- 
ciation, and delivered another admirable speech. • 

Ten days afterwards, on the 20th of the same 
month, he fulfilled a similar post at the second anni- 
versary of the Newspaper Press Fund (being a vice- 
president of that useful association). His speech was 
that well known one in which he gave us his early 
reporting experiences. In defending the profession 
he said : — " I would venture to remind you, if I 
delicately may, in the august presence of members 
of Parliament, how much we, the public, owe to the 
reporters, if it were only for their skill in the two 
great sciences of condensation and rejection. Con- 
ceive what our sufferings under an Imperial Parlia- 
ment, however popularly constituted, under however 
glorious a constitution, would be, if the reporters 
could not skip ! " And it was on this occasion that 
he exclaimed, in the midst of the warmest applause, 
" I am not here advocating the case of a mere 
ordinary client of whom I have little or no know- 
ledge. I hold a brief to-night for my brothers ! " 
Since his death this passage has been often quoted in 
proof of the love he bore to the literary profession 
and all connected with it. 

We come now to a very sad occurrence, from 
the effects of which Mr. Dickens never entirely 
recovered. On the 9th of June he was unfortunate 
enough to be a passenger in the train that met with 
the lamentable accident at Staplehurst, in conse- 
quence of the plate-layer's negligence. The carriage 



284 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1865. 

in which he was sitting toppled over the edge of the 
precipice, and hung suspended sufficiently long to 
allow him to escape by scrambling out of the 
window, uninjured in body, and without even a 
bruise, but his nerves receiving a shock from which 
he often afterwards complained. The Newsvendors* 
Benevolent and Provident Institution, at a special 
meeting, a few days after, passed a resolution con- 
gratulating him on his miraculous and providential 
escape, and concluded by expressing "their sincere 
hope that a life so publicly and privately valuable 
may be spared for many, many years, further to 
adorn English literature with imperishable works, 
and to grace with apt eloquence, and promote by 
strenuous practical example and advocacy, efforts 
made to ameliorate distress and provide for the sad 
contingencies of sickness and old age." 

Dickens always considered the regular contributors 
to Household Words and to All tJie Year Round as 
connected with him in a manner much more closely 
than as ordinary professional or purely business 
connections. " My brothers " was his favourite 
phrase ; and when Miss Adelaide Anne Procter died 
he wrote for the beautiful " Legends and Lyrics,"* 
which her family published as an hi Memoriam 
volume, a most touching preface. This passage 
explains how he came to know the daughter of 
"Barry Cornwall:"— 

* It was published by Messrs. Bell and Daldy as a Christmas 
gift-book. 



IIP- 



x86s.] *'MISS BERWICK." 285 

"In the spring of the year 1853, I observed, as 
Conductor of the weekly journal Household Words ^ 
2l short poem among the proffered contributions, very 
different, as I thought, from the shoal of verses 
perpetually passing through the office of such a 
periodical, and possessing much more merit. Its 
authoress was quite unknown to me. She was one 
Miss Mary Berwick, whom I had never heard of; 
and she was to be addressed by letter, if addressed 
at all, at a circulating library in the western district 
of London. Through this channel. Miss Berwick 
was informed- that her poem was accepted, and was 
invited to send another. She complied, and became 
a regular and frequent contributor. Many letters 
passed between the journal and Miss Berwick, but 
Miss Berwick herself was never seen. How we came 
gradually to establish, at the office of HoiiseJiold 
Words, that we knew all about Miss Berwick, I have 
never discovered. But we settled, somehow, to our 
complete satisfaction, that she was governess in a 
family; that she went to Italy in that capacity, and 
returned ; and that she had long been in the same 
family. We really knew nothing whatever of her, 
except that she was remarkably business-like, 
punctual, self-reliant, and reliable : so I suppose we 
insensibly invented the rest. For myself, my mother 
was not a ' more real personage to me than Miss 
Berwick the governess became. This went on until 
December, 1854, when the Christmas Number, en- 



286 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1865. 



titled * The Seven Poor Travellers/ was sent to press. 
Happening to be going to dine that day with an old 
and dear friend, distinguished in literature as Barry- 
Cornwall, I took with me an early proof of that 
number, and remarked, as I laid it on the drawing- 
room table, that it contained a very pretty poem, 
written by a certain Miss Berwick. Next day brought 
me the disclosure that I had so spoken of the poem to 
the mother of its writer, in its writer's presence ; that 
I had no such correspondent in existence as Miss 
Berwick ; that the name had been assumed by Barry 
Cornwall's eldest daughter, Miss Adelaide Anne 
Procter." 

And, after describing her cheerfulness, her modesty, 
her conviction that life " must not be dreamed away," 
her unceasing efforts to do good, he thus describes 
the final ending. She had then lain an invalid upon 
her bed through fifteen months : — " In all that time, 
her old cheerfulness never quitted her. In all that 
time, not an impatient or querulous minute can be 
remembered. At length, at midnight on the 2nd of 
February, 1864, she turned down a leaf of a little 
book she was reading, and shut it up. The minister- 
ing hand that had copied the verses into the tiny 
album was soon around her neck, and she quietly 
asked, as the clock was on the stroke of One : ' Do 
you think I am dying, mamma } ' — * I think you are 
very, very ill to-night, my dear.' — ' Send for my 
sistei- My feet are so cold. Lift me up ! * Her 



pp^ 



1865.] "DR. MARIGOLD'S PRESCRIPTIONS." 287 

sister entering as they raised her, she said : * It has 
come at last ! ' And with a bright and happy smile, 
looked upward, and departed." 

We are now approaching the last of those Christ- 
mas numbers which for so many years have formed a 
friendly tie between author and reader at the festive 
season. " Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions " was the 
number for Christmas, 1865. It gave the history of 
an itinerant " Cheap Jack," named *' Doctor," in re- 
membrance of a kind-hearted medical man who 
officiated at his birth, and who would only accept a 
tea-tray in payment for his services. The "Doctor's" 
peculiar talents in his line of business, and the happy 
contrast to the political Cheap Jack, making rash 
promises never intended to be kept ; the giant 
Pickleson, otherwise Rinaldo di Velasco, with his 
small head, weak eyes, and weak knees ; his master, 
Mr. Mim, the proprietor of the caravan ; the death 
of little Sophy in her father's arms, while he con- 
vulses his rustic audience with his witticisms and 
funny speeches ; the suicide of his wife ; the pecu- 
liarities of his old horse ; and the intelligent dog, 
who " taught himself out of his own head to growl 
at any person in the crowd that bid as low as six- 
pence ; " the purchase of the poor little deaf and 
dumb girl for a pair of braces ; his kindness to her, 
then sending her to an institution to be educated ; 
her subsequent marriage with one similarly afflicted 
as herself ; their coming home, after a long absence, 
with their little girl ; and Marigold's intense excite- 



288 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1866. 

ment in finding the child can speak, is all a delightful 
reality, and thoroughly true to nature. 

Dickens was a guest at the Mansion House, on 
January i6th following, on the occasion of a magni- 
ficent banquet. He proposed the. "Health of the 
Lady Mayoress." The next month we find him 
taking the chair (for the second time) at the annual 
dinner of the Dramatic, Equestrian, and Musical 
Fund, at Willis's Rooms.* 

The following month Dickens took a prominent 
part in another public meeting — the annual festival 
of the Royal General Theatrical Fund. It came off 
on March 28th, and Sir Benjamin Phillips, the Lord 
Mayor, in replying to his " health" — which our author 
had proposed — told this interesting anecdote : — " My 
acquaintance with Mr. Dickens dates from my boy- 
hood. I recollect being in Hamburgh, some thirty 
years ago, upon a commercial errand, when my mind 
and time were engaged in those pursuits, and meeting 
with a gentleman with whom I had some very large 
transactions, he invited me to breakfast with him the 
following morning. I went 'to him, we passed a 
pleasant hour, and after he rose from his table he 
looked at his watch and said, ' Let us take a walk. 
* Well,' I said, ' I have no objection to that,' and we 
walked together. He seemed very restless indeed. 
We went to a cafe and read a newspaper, and I could 
get him to do anything but attend to business. At 
last out he took his watch and said, — 
* February 14, 1866. 



i866.] DICKENS AT THE MANSION HOUSE. 289 

" ' My dear friend, you must excuse me, this is the 
day on which the fifth number of a work written by 
one of your countrymen, and called ' Boz,' comes to 
Hamburgh, and until I get that number and read it 
I can neither talk of business nor anything else.' 

"I take shame to myself," continued the Lord 
Mayor on this occasion, " that I at that moment 
should have been in utter ignorance of the brilliant 
talent of my illustrious friend, of whom I can say, as 
was said by another distinguished poet, that the price 
of his literary labours is immortality, and that posterity 
will generously and proudly pay it. ... I never 
contemplated in my philosophy that I should have 
the honour of what Mr. Dickens has been pleased to 
call a personal friendship with the man who, I do not 
hesitate to say, any crowned head in Europe would 
be proud to shake by the hand and call by the name — 
the man who has added, in this generation, honour 
and dignity to his profession — who has penetrated and 
dug from the hearts of men their virtues and their 
qualities, and to whom the whole world owes a deep and 
a lasting debt of gratitude ; and I unhesitatingly say, 
and say most proudly, that it is to me, representing, 
as I do, the largest commercial city in the world — that 
I consider it to be a great honour to be permitted, in 
the name of humanity, to offer my grateful and grace- 
ful tribute to Mr. Charles Dickens." 

The members of the Metropolitan Rowing Clubs, 
dining together at the London Tavern, on the 7th 
May following, Dickens, as President of the Nautilus 

T 



290 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1866. 

Rowing Club (of which his eldest son was captain), 
occupied the chair : his speech on this occasion was 
full of humour. 

The last number but one of the old familiar 
Christmas Numbers was now at hand. " Mugby 
Junction " was the title of that issued in December, 
1866, and it contained a larger amount of writing by 
Dickens than usual. "Barbox Brothers and Co.," 
" The Boy at Mugby," and " The Signalman," were 
his contributions. 

The description of the Mugby Junction Station 
at three in the morning, in tempestuous weather ; 
the arrival of the express train, the guard '* glistening 
with drops of wet, and looking at the tearful face of 
his watch by the light of his lantern ;" the alighting 
of Barbox Brothers ; the appearance of " Lamps," 
the velveteen individual ; his daughter Phoebe, who 
kept a school ; the episode of Polly going astray, 
and being found by Barbox Brothers ; and the 
relating of Barbox Brothers' past life and adven- 
tures, are told in a manner the reader will not 
easily forget. 

" The Boy at Mugby " was intended to show the 
abominable system of our railway refreshment rooms, 
with their stale pastry, saw-dust sandwiches, scalding 
tea and coffee, and unpalatable butter-scotch, in 
comparison with the excellent arrangements for the 
comfort and accommodation of railway travellers in 
France. 

As some indication of the sale of these " Christmas 



1867.] CLARKSON STAN FIELD. 291 

Numbers," we may state that the sale of "Mugby 
Junction " exceeded a quarter of a million copies. 

During the first three months of the year 1867 
he gave readings at St. James's Hall to crowded 
audiences, having in the previous April, May, and 
June (1866) appeared at Manchester, Greenwich, 
the Crystal Palace, St. James's Hall, and other places, 
delighting and amusing many thousands of people. 

On the 5th of June we find him presiding at 
the ninth anniversary festival of the Railway 
Benevolent Society, at Willis's Rooms, and it was in 
his speech, on this occasion, that he gave the amusing 
story of " The Ten Suitors." 

In May his old and dear friend, Clarkson Stanfield, 
the Royal Academician, died, and the reader may 
remember the beautiful and touching obituary notice 
which Dickens penned on the occasion — the affec- 
tionate appreciation of the delicate shades of the 
great maritime artist's character which that notice 
evinced, and the noble peroration with which it 
closed. A friend of the late illustrious author, to 
whom we are already indebted for some interesting 
facts, remarks : — " The recent earnest wish displayed 
by the Queen to confer upon Dickens some title of 
honour, and the womanly refinement shown by Her 
Majesty in seeking to make that honour one which 
he could accept without derogating from his social 
principles, gives his parting words on Stanfield a not 
unkindly significance. It was after enumerating the 
attist's many claims to public distinction, after speci- 

T 2 



292 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1867. 

fying several of his works by name, and after point- 
ing to the recognition he would have received had he 
belonged to a foreign State, that Dickens said : ' It 
is superfluous to add, that he died Mr. Stanfield — ^he 
was an Englishman/ " 

On the 17th September following, he took the chair 
at a public meeting of the Printers' Readers. A cor- 
rector of the press, and at that time a member of 
the "Association," who was present with the other 
working men, has forwarded to us this account of the 
meeting. Coming from one of the men themselves, 
it is of interest, as showing their appreciation of that 
respect and sympathy which Charles Dickens ever 
expressed for honest and intelligent working men : — 

" I well remember, on the evening when Dickens 
so readily consented to preside at a meeting of the 
London Association of Correctors of the Press, fol- 
lowing the immortal novelist up the steps of the 
Salisbury Hotel, Fleet Street, where the meeting was 
to be held. The great master, on that occasion, met 
the assemblage of literary drudges with the open- 
hearted frankness of a brother. As he threw aside 
his large light cloak, he shook hands with all who 
sought that honour with the utmost warmth. Even 
now I fancy I can feel the firm grip, and see his 
cheery smile. He was dressed with the greatest care 
and elegance, as if for an evening party or State ball 
His florid complexion, dark glittering eye, and griz- 
zled beard, were very striking ; but, above all, the 
loftiness of his massive brow — denoting ' the mighty 



1867.] THE PRINTERS READERS. 293 

brain within * — inspired the beholder with reverence. 
In his speech he expressed the warmest friendship 
for the intelligent body of men before him, to whom, 
he said, ' he was indebted for many kindly hints, and 
judicious corrections and queries in his proofs, which 
in the hurry of business had escaped his notice while 
preparing "copy," or revising sheets for press.' He 
said that he had other engagements for that evening, 
but had at once put them aside when he had been 
invited to spend an hour with the practical correctors 
of the Press, for the advancement of their interests." 



--^--sS?g^p5^S§^?^^-— 




€>#€>©■ O^^-^ <S>#€hS ?^8Hg)^<SH@HBK5^ ^#^g <gH8^^ 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA. — PEDESTRIAN TASTES. 

RESSING invitations from American friends, 
and the desire to carry out a long-nursed 
project, induced Mr. Dickens early in the 
year to make preparations for a visit to the United 
States in the autumn. The fact soon became 
known to the American journalists, and from that 
time until he landed, paragraphs, poems of welcome, 
and scraps of so-called intelligence — scraps which 
surprised even Mr. Dickens himself — w^ere con- 
tinually appearing in the papers there. The New 
York Tribune said : — " Charles Dickens is coming 
to the United States to give a series of readings 
in the principal cities of the republic. The announce- 
ment will be received with pleasure throughout the 
country. Our people do, indeed, remember the 
'American Notes,' and the satirical chapters in 
' Martin Chuzzlewit,' and are, no doubt, of opinion 
that, as a matter of taste, Mr. Dickens might well 
have been more gracious. But, on the other hand, 
our people like free speech and appreciate frankness 
— not forgetting that truth should be the North Star 
of authorship ; and there is a good deal of truth in 
what Mr. Dickens said about us on returning from 



IP 



1867.] SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA. 295 

his first visit to this country." In England, the great 
novehst's friends arranged for a Farewell Banquet, on 
the most sumptuous scale. It took place on Saturday 
evening, November 2nd, at the Freemasons' Tavern. 
The new hall was specially decorated for the occasion, 
the panels being adorned with laurel leaves, and each 
inscribed with the name of one of Dickens's works in 
splendid letters of gold. The company numbered 
between 400 and 500 gentlemen, including nearly all 
the eminent men in art, literature, science, law, and 
medicine. 

Lord Lytton presided, and in the course of a 
magnificent eulogium upon the illustrious novelist, 
said : — " We are about to entrust our honoured 
countryman to the hospitality of those kindred shores 
in which his writings are as much household words as 
they are in the homes of England. 

" If I may speak as a politician, I should say that 
no time for his visit could be more happily chosen. 
For our American kinsfolk have conceived, rightly or 
wrongly, that they have some recent cause of com- 
plaint against ourselves, and out of all England we 
could not have selected an envoy — speaking not on 
behalf of our Government, but of our people — more 
calculated to allay irritation and propitiate goodwill. 
***** 

" How many hours in which pain and sickness 
have changed into cheerfulness and mirth beneath the 
wand of that enchanter ! How many a hardy com- 
batant, beaten down in the battle of life — and 



296 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1867. 

nowhere on this earth is the battle of life sharper 
than in the commonwealth of America — has taken 
new hope, and new courage, and new force from the 
manly lessons of that unobtrusive teacher." 

He concluded by proposing "A prosperous voyage, 
health, and long life to our illustrious guest and 
countryman, Charles Dickens ; " and, if we remem- 
ber the reports given of the banquet rightly, the 
company rose as one man to do honour to the toast, 
and drank it with such expressions of enthusiasm 
and goodwill as are rarely to be seen in any public 
assembly. Again and again the cheers burst forth, 
and it was some minutes before silence was restored. 

Mr. Dickens replied in a speech such as no one 
else could have delivered, and towards its conclusion 
he said : — " The story of my going to America is very 
easily and briefly told. Since I was there before, a 
vast and entirely new generation has arisen in the 
United States. Since that time, too, most of the 
best known of my books have been written and 
published. The new generation and the books have 
come together and have kept together, until at length 
numbers of those who have so widely and constantly 
read me, naturally desiring a little variety in the 
relations between us, have expressed a strong wish 
that I should read myself. This wish, at first con- 
veyed to me through public as well as through 
business channels, has gradually become enforced by 
an immense accumulation of letters from private 
individuals and associations of individuals, all express- 



1867.] SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA. 297 

ing in the same hearty, homely, cordial, unaffected 
way a kind of personal affection for me, which I am 
sure you will agree with me that it would be down- 
right insensibility on my part not to prize. Little by 
little this pressure has become so great that, although, 
as Charles Lamb says, ' My household gods strike 
a terribly deep root,' I have driven them from their 
places, and this day week, at this hour, shall be 
upon the sea. You will readily conceive that I am 
inspired besides by a natural desire to see for myself 
the astonishing progress of a quarter of a century over 
there — to grasp the hands of many faithful friends 
whom I left there — to see the faces of a multitude of 
new friends upon whom I have never looked — and, 
though last, not least, to use my best endeavours to 
lay down a third cable of intercommunication and 
alliance between the Old World and the New. 

" Twelve years ago, when. Heaven knows, I little 
thought I should ever be bound upon the voyage 
which now lies before me, I wrote in that form of my 
writings which obtains by far the most extensive 
circulation, these words about the American nation : — 
* I know full well that whatever little motes my 
beamy eyes may have described in theirs, that they 
are a kind, large-hearted, generous, and great people.' 
In that faith I am going to see them again. In that 
faith I shall, please God, return from them in the 
spring, in that same faith to live and to die. My lords, 
ladies, and gentlemen, I told you in the beginning 
that I could not thank you enough, and Heaven 



298 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1867. 

knows I have most thoroughly kept my word. If I 
may quote one other short sentence from myself, let 
it imply all that I have left unsaid and yet deeply 
feel ; let it, putting a girdle round the earth, com- 
prehend both sides of the Atlantic at once in this 
moment. As Tiny Tim observed, * God bless us, 
every one.'" 

The great novelist left London on the following 
Friday for Liverpool, being accompanied to the 
station by a host of friends desirous of bidding him 
" God speed " and au revoir. The directors of the 
London and North-Western Company paid Mr. 
Dickens and party the compliment of placing at their 
disposal one of the Royal saloon carriages, the appear- 
ance of which excited great interest at the various 
stations at which the train stopped. On Saturday 
morning Mr. Dickens was on board the Cunard mail- 
steamer CtLha, commanded by Capt. Stone. A second 
officer's cabin was set aside for his exclusive use, and 
everything done that could ensure his personal com- 
fort. He was accompanied by his machinist, Mr. 
Kelly, and a man-servant ; and — like a true show- 
man — carried with him the arrangements of his own 
platform, with the gas apparatus required for his 
readings. 

On Friday, the 23rd of the same month, a telegram, 
" Safe and well," was received in London, announcing 
his arrival at Boston. He arrived there on the 19th, 
and was received with acclamations. ]\Ir. Dolby, 
his agent, who preceded him, had disposed of 



I IF 



1867-6S.] SECOXD VISIT TO AMERICA. 299 

an immense number of tickets. The first reading 
took place on December 2nd, at Tremont Temple. 
After a few readings in Boston, he proceeded to 
New York, Washington, and Philadelphia, and read 
to immense audiences, being everywhere received 
with the greatest enthusiasm. 

One of the papers * there said : — " No literary man 
except Thackeray ever had such a welcome from 
Philadelphia as Charles Dickens received last night 
at Concert Hall. The selling of the tickets two 
weeks ago almost amounted to a disturbance of the 
peace. Five hundred people in line, standing from 
midnight till noon, poorly represented the general 
desire to hear the great novelist on his first night. 
Every^vhere that I looked in the crowded hall I saw 
some one not unknown to fame — some one repre- 
senting either the intelligence or the- 'beauty, the 
wealth or the fashion of Philadelphia. It was an 
audience which, in the words of Serjeant Buzfuz, I 
might declare an enlightened, a high-minded, a right 
feeling, a dispassionate, a conscientious, a sympa- 
thizing, a contemplative, and a poetical jury, to judge 
Charles Dickens without fear or favour. The 
novelist stepped upon the stage. His book in his 

hand, his bouquet in his coat but I will not describe 

to readers the face and form many of them know 
so well. ^Ir. Dickens was received coldly. Here 
was an Englishman who had pulled us to pieces and 
tweaked the national nose by writing * Martin 

* New Tor k Tribune , I4tlijan. 1868. 



300 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1868. 

Chuzzlewit ' and * American Notes.' Philadelphia 
held out as long as she could. The first smile came 
in when Bob Cratchit warmed himself with a candle, 
but before Scrooge had got through with the first 
ghost the laughter was universal and uproarious. 
The Christmas dinner of the Cratchits was a tre- 
mendous success, as was Scrooge's Niece by marriage. 
There was a young lady in white fur and blue ribbons, 
name unknown to the writer, upon whose sympathies 
Mr. Dickens played as if she had been a piano. A 
deaf man could have followed his story by looking 
at her face. The goose convulsed her. The pudding 
threw her into hysterics ; and when the story came 
to the sad death of Tiny Tim, * my little, little child,' 
tears were streaming down her cheeks. This young 
lady was as good as Mr. Dickens, and all the more 
attractive because she couldn't help it. Then, as a 
joke began to be dimly foreseen, it was great to see 
the faint smile dawning on long lines of faces, grow- 
ing brighter and brighter till it passed from sight 
to sound, and thundered to the roof in vast and 
inextinguishable laughter." 

During his visit to America, the great men of the 
land travelled from far and near to be present at the 
readings ; the poet Longfellow went three nights in 
succession, and he afterwards declared to a friend that 
they were "the most delightful evenings of his life." 
^ On Saturday, the i8th April, he was entertained at 
a farewell dinner at Delmonico's Hotel, New York. 
Two hundred gentlemen sat down to it, and Mr. 



1868.] SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA. 301 

Horace Greeley presided. Dickens was somewhat 
indisposed, but in reply to the toast of his health, he 
gave this interesting experience of his second visit to 
America : — " It has been said in your newspapers, 
that for months past I have been collecting materials 
for and hammering away at a new book on America. 
This has much astonished me, seeing that all that 
time it has been perfectly well known to my pub- 
lishers, on both sides of the Atlantic, that I positively 
declared that no consideration on earth should induce 
me to write one. But what I have intended, what I 
have resolved upon (and this is the confidence I seek 
to place in you), is, on my return to England, in my 
own person, to bear, for the behoof of my country- 
men, such testimony to the gigantic changes in this 
country as I have hinted at to-night. Also, to record 
that, wherever I have been, in the smallest places 
equally with the largest, I have been received with 
unsurpassable politeness, delicacy, sweet temper, 
hospitality, consideration, and with unsurpassable 
respect for the privacy daily enforced upon me by 
the nature of my avocation here, and the state of 
my health. This testimony, so long as I live, and 
so long as my descendants have any legal right in 
my books, I shall cause to be republished, as an 
appendix to every copy of those two books of mine 
in which I have referred to America. And this I 
will do and cause to be done, not in mere love and 
thankfulness, but because I regard it as an act of 
plain justice and honour." 



302 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1868. 

The time for Mr. Dickens's departure was, now close 
at hand. His last reading was given at the Stein- 
way Hall, on the ensuing Monday evening. The 
task finished, he was about to retire, but a tremen- 
dous burst of applause stopped him. He knew what 
his audience wanted — a few words — a parting greet- 
ing before saying good-bye. Their illustrious visitor 
did not disappoint them : — " The shadow of one word 
has impended over me this evening," said Mr. Dickens, 
" and the time has come at length when the shadow 
must fall. It is but a very short one, but the weight 
of such things is not measured by their length, and 
two much shorter words express the round of our 
human existence. When I was reading 'David 
Copperfield/ a few evenings since, I felt there was 
more. than usual significance in the words of Peg- 

gotty, ' My future life lies over the sea.' 

The relations which have been set up between us 
must now be broken for ever. Be assured, however, 
that you will not pass from my mind. I shall often 
realize you as I see you now, equally by my winter 
fire, and in the green English summer weather. I 
shall never recall you as a mere public audience, but 
rather as a host of personal friends, and ever with the 
greatest gratitude, tenderness, and consideration. 
Ladies and gentlemen, I beg to bid you farewell. 
God bless you, and God bless the land in which I 
leave you !" 

He left America on the 22nd of April, and the 
following extract from the New York Tribtme, of the 



fW 



i868.] SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA. 303 

day after, will convey the best impression of the great 
respect paid to him, and the general regret expressed 
at his departure : — 

" The Russia left her wharf early yesterday morning, and 
steamed down the bay. When near Staten Island, she rounded 
to and waited for mails and passengers to arrive by the tugboat 
from Jersey city. When the boat came alongside, bearing, 
among others, M. Paul du Chaillu and Mr. George W. Childs, 
the passengers crowded to the side to catch a glimpse of Mr. 
Dickens, who, leaning over the rail on the quarter-deck of the 
Russia, smiled and nodded to his friends below. Two hours 
before he had left the Westminster Hotel, amid the cheers of 
those who had gathered to bid him farewell, and as he entered 
his carriage, bouquets tossed by fair hands from windows fell at 
his feet. In order to avoid a crowd of spectators, he left the 
city from the foot of Spring Street, in the private tugboat of 
his friend Mr. Morgan. On board the tug were Mr. James T. 
Fields, of Boston, Mr. Anthony and Mr. Ey tinge, artists, Mr. 
William Winter, Mr. Osgood, of Ticknor and Fields' (this 
gentleman has accompanied Mr. Dickens throughout his Ameri- 
can campaign), Mr. H. D. Palmer and his associate, Mr. H. C. 
Jarrett, of Niblo's, and Mr. Marshall B. Wild, of Boston. The 
last-named gentleman was Mr. Dickens's ticket agent. Before 
he bade his farewell, Mr, Dickens acknowledged the value of 
his agent's services by making him a present of a cheque for 
150 dollars. They steamed down the bay, followed by the 
police-boat, having on board Mr. Thurlow Weed, the superin- 
tendent of police, and a number of ladies bearing beautiful 
bouquets for Mr. Dickens. They reached the Russia, and were 
soon on board. The state-room prepared for Mr. Dickens was 
laden with flowers. 

" A basket.^ elegantly arranged, was presented to him by Mr, 



304 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1868. 

Childs. In the centre, in white carnations, upon a ground of 
red roses, was the word 'Farewell,' and below, the initials 
'CD.' 

" It was a lovely day — a clear blue sky overhead. As he 
stood resting on the rail, chatting with this friend and writing 
an autograph for that one, the genial face all aglow with delight, 
it was seemingly hard to say the word * Farewell,' yet the tug- 
boat screamed the note of warning, and those v/ho must return 
to the city went down the side. 

"All had left save Mr. Fields. ' Boz' held the hand of the 
publisher within his own. There was an unmistakable look on 
both faces. The lame foot came down from the rail, and the 
friends were locked in each other's arms. 

*' Mr. Fields then hastened down the side, not daring to look 
behind. The lines were ' cast off.' 

" A cheer was given for Mr. Dolby, when Mr. Dickens 
patted him approvingly upon the shoulder, saying, 'Good 
boy.' 

/' Another cheer for Mr. Dickens, and the tug steamed away. 

"'Good-bye, 'Boz.' 

" ' Good-bye,' from Mr. Fields, who stood the central figure 
of a group of three, Messrs. Du Chaillu and Childs upon each 
side. 

" Then 'Boz' put his hat upon his cane and waved it, and the 
answer came ' Good-bye,* and * God bless you, every one !' " 

After a pleasant homeward voyage, he arrived at 
Liverpool, on ist May, 1868. 

During his stay, he was besieged to such an extent 
with applications for his autograph, that he was 
obliged to have a printed form in reply : — 

" To comply with your modest request would not be 
reasonably possible^ 



r 



x868.] SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA. 305 

To envelope, direct, and post these replies, the ser- 
vices of three secretaries were required. 

Applications of another kind, however, were 
personally attended to. Thus it was told there, 
that a lady of Charleston, a great admirer of Mr. 
Dickens's writings, but unfortunately paralyzed in 
her limbs from an accident, so that she could not 
walk, wrote to ask if the doors of the '' Temple " 
could be opened to her earlier than the usual hour, that 
she might be lifted into the hall unobserved. Mr. 
Dickens immediately acknowledged the note, gave 
the requisite order for the lady's accommodation, and 
claimed the honour of presenting her, besides, with 
complimentary tickets of admission. 

It is a curious fact, that the smallest house which 
welcomed Mr. Dickens anywhere in America was 
Rochester, New York State, where the reading 
"netted" only 2,500 dollars. The largest receipts, 
on several occasions, exceeded 6,000 dollars. 

Mr. Dickens's capabilities as a pedestrian had been 
discussed in America long before he arrived there, 
and our Transatlantic friends were not satisfied until 
a " match " had been brought about. This was ar- 
ranged at Boston, betwixt Mr. Dolby (Mr. Dickens's 
English agent) and Mr. Osgood (the American pub- 
lisher). The distance was to be twelve miles, and 
the contest was to take place on the Mill-dam Road, 
towards Newton. Mr. Dickens and Mr. Fields (the 
publisher) were to be umpires, and had to walk the 
whole twelve miles with their respective men. Im- 

U 



8o6 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. ^1868. 

mediately the match was made known, the papers 
teemed with particulars concerning it. " Dickens," 
one journal said, "was a superb pedestrian, good for 
thirty miles ^ on end ' any day." The articles were 
drawn up by the great author, and subscribed to by 
all four gentlemen. The public were, however, not 
made acquainted with the place or the time until 
after the contest was over. The affair came off on 
the following Saturday, at twelve o'clock. The 
pedestrians were all, it is said, " appropriately cos- 
tumed, and they went at a tremendous pace. The 
first six miles were accomplished in one hour and 
twenty-three minutes, and the return six miles were 
finished by Mr. Osgood (the American) in one hour 
and twenty-five minutes, he winning the match by 
exactly seven minutes. An elegant dinner was given 
by Mr. Dickens at the Parker House, the same even- 
ing, to signalize the occasion." This anecdote shows 
the heartiness with which he entered into any healthy 
out-door sport he cared to join in, and his gameness 
and youthful vigour in keeping up with men not 
more than half his age. 

Whilst we are upon the subject of our author's 
pedestrian tastes, we may mention that, like Dr. 
Johnson, Dickens was singularly fond of the old 
city streets and alleys when emptied of the busy 
throng that filled them in the day-time. Lord Jeffrey, 
writing to him once, remarked :- — " How funny, that 
besoin of yours for midnight rambling in city streets ; 
and how curious that Macaulay should have the same 



w 



x868.] SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA, 307 

taste or fancy ! If I thought there was any such 
inspiration as yours to be caught by the practice, I 
should expose my poor irritable tracJiea, I think, to 
a nocturnal pilgrimage, without scruple. But, I fear, 
I should have my venture for my pains." 

The reader may remember our extract from his 
letter to the Countess of Blessington, where he says — 
in allusion to his habit of walking at nights whilst 
planning out a new novel — " I go wandering about 
at night into the strangest places, according to my 
usual propensity at such times, seeking rest and find- 
ing none." 

A story is told that on one pedestrian occasion he 
was taken for a "smasher." He had retired to rest 
at Gad's Hill, but found he could not sleep, when he 
determined to turn out, dress, and walk up to London 
— some thirty miles. He reached the suburbs in the 
gray morning, and applied at an "early" coffee- 
house for some refreshment, tendering for the same 
a sovereign, the smallest coin he happened to have 
about him. 

** It 's a bad 'un," said the man, biting at it, and 
trying to twist it in all directions, " and I shall give 
you in charge." Sure enough the coin did have a 
suspicious look. Mr. Dickens had carried some sub- 
stance in his pocket which had oxydized it. Seeing 
that matters looked awkward, he at once said, " But I 
am Charles Dickens ! " 

" Come, that won't do ; any man could say he was 
* Charles Dickens.' How do I know ?" The man 

U 2 



308 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1868. 

had been victimized only the week previously, and 
at length, at Mr. Dickens's suggestion, it was arranged 
that tliey should go to a chemist, to have the coin 
tested with aquafortis. In due course, when the 
shops opened, a chemist was found, who immediately 
recognized the great novelist — notwithstanding his 
dusty appearance — and the coffee-house keeper was 
satisfactorily convinced that he had not been enter- 
taining a " smasher." 

It is pleasant to know, that upon the great novel- 
ist's return to England, the farmers and neighbours 
around Gad's Hill draped their houses with flags to 
receive him. " He was extremely popular in the 
place where he lived," says our informant ; " he was 
a man of practical charity at home and abroad, and 
gave away large sums judiciously every year. Indeed 
he would get up in the night and go ten miles to aid 
any one who was suffering." 

" No Thoroughfare " was the title of the Christmas 
number of All the Year Round, which appeared 
during Dickens's absence in the Christmas of 1867. 
It consisted of a sensational story, the joint produc- 
tion of Dickens and Wilkie Collins. 

It was dramatized by the authors, and had a most 
successful run at the Adelphi Theatre for 151 nights, 
and was then produced at the Royal Standard by 
the same company, which consisted of the following 
distinguished actors and actresses : Messrs. Benjamin 
Webster, Fechter, Belmore, and Neville ; Mesdames 
Mellon and Billington, and Miss Carlotta Leclercq. 



X868.J SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA. 309 

" Holiday Romance " and " George Silverman's 
Explanation," both by Dickens, and published in All 
the Year Round, in the months of January to March, 
1868, attracted some slight attention, but did not add 
very much to his fame as an author. 



-i(3)9- 






CHAPTER XXIX. 



THE FAREWELL READINGS. — ^FAILING HEALTH, 



HE " Farewell Readings," which commenced 
towards the close of 1868, will be too 
familiar to most readers to require other 
than a passing mention of them. The Messrs. Chap- 
pell, the well-known music-publishers of Bond 
Street, had contracted with Mr. Dickens for a given 
number of final readings, to take place in the prin- 
cipal towns of England, Ireland, and Scotland ; 
and the enormous crowds who thronged to hear them 
showed the unabated interest all classes took in the 
great novelist and his books. 

In the month of November, 1868, a new series of 
A /I the Year Round appeared, the first series having 
reached twenty volumes. It was marked by the disap- 
pearance of his popular Christmas number, by reason 
— Mr. Dickens said — that it had been so extensively 
and regularly and often imitated, that it was in very 
great danger of becoming tiresome, — ^a statement 
which was not at all well received by the press, 
which said, very truly, that, to the great body of 
readers, the absence of the Christmas number would 
be a national disappointment 



X869.] THE FAREWELL READINGS, 311 

Continuing the readings in London and the pro- 
vinces, Dickens at last reached Liverpool, where it 
was forthwith resolved to entertain him at a grand 
banquet. This took place on Saturday evening, the 
loth April, 1869, at the St. George's Hall, the Mayor 
presiding. At the time, it was spoken of as being 
one of the most sumptuous gatherings of the kind 
ever seen in this country. The number of ladies 
and gentlemen who sat down to dinner was about 
700. The invited guests, in addition to the guests 
of the evening, were Lord Dufferin, M. Alphonse 
Esquiros, Lord Houghton, A. Trollope, Palgrave 
Simpson, W. Hepworth Dixon, Andrew Halliday, 
Joseph Mayer, F.S.A., G. A. Sala, A. Trollope, jun., 
and Charles Dickens, jun. Next to Mr. Dickens, 
Lord Dufferin made the best speech, and some of 
his allusions to the good effects Avhich the writings 
of their guest were destined to exercise over all 
English-speaking peoples were admirable. Concern- 
ing the friendly hint which Lord Houghton gave our 
author, that, had he sought Parliamentary honours, 
he might have done his country good service, and have 
been rewarded by titles of honour, this extract from 
his speech has a biographical significance : — " When 
I first took literature as my profession in England, 
I calmly resolved within myself that, whether I suc- 
ceeded or whether I failed, literature should be my 
sole profession. *" It appeared to me at that time that 
it was not so well understood in England as it was 
in other countries that literature was a dignified pro- 



312 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1869 

fession, by which any man might stand or fall. I 
made a compact with myself that in my person 
literature should stand, and by itself, of itself, and 
for itself; and there is no consideration on earth 
which would induce me to break that bargain." 

Continuing the ^'Farewell Readings" with un- 
varied success, he reached Preston a fortnight after, 
but became so ill there that he was forbidden by his 
medical advisers to read again until the following 
year. A personal friend, who was with him on this 
journey, thus describes his indisposition. The friend 
had gone down to Leeds at Mr. Dickens's request : — 

" After the business of* the evening was over we 
supped together at the Queen's Hotel, and I noticed 
that he (Dickens) looked jaded and worn, and had to 
a certain extent lost that marvellous elasticity of 
spirits which was his great characteristic. He was 
suffering, too, from an inflammation of the ball of 
the foot, which had previously occasioned him some 
annoyance, and the origin and cause of which could 
never be rightly settled by his medical attendants, 
although amongst those whom he had consulted 
about it were Sir Henry Thompson and Professor 
Syme. 

** He relieved himself of his boot immediately on 
gaining the room, and while he remained sat with 
his foot swathed in lotioned bandages ; but he was 
evidently fatigued and depressed, and retired early. 
The next morning at breakfast his ordinary cheer- 
fulness had returned, and he rallied the writer, who 



1869.] THE FAREWELL READINGS. 313 

was about to visit Sheffield in the rain which was 
then pouring down, about his probable chances of 
pleasure, remarking that *it was just the kind of day 
in which the loveliness of the locality would be seen 
to the highest advantage.' On the Thursday in the 
next week Mr. Dickens was to read at Preston, but 
still feeling ill had summoned his friend and usual 
medical attendant, Mr. Frank Beard, of Welbeck- 
street, to meet him there. On Mr. Beard's arrival he 
at once saw the gravity of the case, and instantly 
ordered Mr. Dickens then and there to give up all 
bodily and mental exertion for the time. In vain it 
was urged that an enormous number of tickets had 
been sold for that evening's reading. Mr. Beard 
would hear of no excuse, but carried off Mr. Dickens 
with him to London by the five o'clock train. 

" The precaution thus seasonably taken seemed to 
have due effect. Mr. Dickens retired to his residence 
at Gad's Hill, and, implicitly obeying the orders of his 
physicians, appeared soon to regain his normal state 
of physical health and strength. Indeed, a very few 
weeks afterwards, replying to an inquiry made by a 
friend as to his condition, he wrote, * After all that 
has been said, I feel almost like an impostor ; I am 
so unconscionably well.'" * 

This illness served to bring him under the notice of 
several bigots and fanatics, who pestered him with 
tracts, and preached at him. But soon after, in his 

* Observer J ]mtiq 12 th, 1870. 



314 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1869. 

own periodical and in his own earnest manner, he 
showed them how distasteful these pertinaceous at- 
tentions were to him, and how very unnecessary he 
considered them. It is believed now that these were 
the first symptoms of the malady which finally 
carried him off. 

The great International University Boat Race 
between Oxford and Harvard having taken place on 
the 27th August, the London Rowing Club invited 
the crews to dinner at the Crystal Palace on the 
following Monday. Desirous of showing his 
American friends the love he bore their country, 
and of expressing his sympathy with a healthy and 
manly exercise, he at once accepted the invitation 
to be present, and on the occasion delivered one of 
his very best speeches, — notwithstanding that he 
was in the doctor's hands at the time. 

His health continuing to improve, he was, on the 
27th of September, enabled to deliver the annual 
address at the commencement of the winter session 
of the Birmingham and Midland Institute, of which 
Mr. Dickens was president. This was his longest 
effort in public speaking, and although somewhat 
severe and didactic when compared with former 
speeches, it is an admirable example of his inimit- 
able style. It was delivered — one who was present 
during the delivery informs us — without note of any 
kind, except the quotation from Sydney Smith, and 
without a single pause.' Respecting Mr. Dickens's 
concluding words, when acknowledging the vote of 



1870.1 THE FAREWELL READINGS. 315 

thanks : — " My faith in the people governing is, on 
the whole, infinitesimal ; my faith in the People 
governed is, on the whole, illimitable," considerable 
discussion arose in the public prints as to the precise 
meaning the speaker desired to convey. But in the 
following January (1870), when he attended at the 
Institute to distribute the prizes and certificates to the 
most successful students, he gave this explanation : — 

" When I was here last autumn I made, in reference 
to some remarks of your respected member, Mr. 
Dixon, a short confession of my political faith — or 
perhaps I should better say, want of faith. It 
imported that I have very little confidence in the 
people who govern us — please to observe ' people * 
there will be with a small ^ p,' — but that I have great 
confidence in the People whom they govern — please 
to observe * People ' there with a large ' P.* This 
was shortly and elliptically stated, and was with no 
evil intention, I am absolutely sure, in some quarters 
inversely explained. Perhaps, as the inventor of a 
certain extravagant fiction, but one which I do see 
rather frequently quoted as if there were grains of 
truth at the bottom of it — a fiction called the ' Circum- 
locution Office,' — and perhaps also as the writer of 
an idle book or two, whose public opinions are not 
obscurely stated — perhaps in these respects I do not 
sufficiently bear in mind Hamlet's caution to speak 
by the card, lest equivocation should undo me. 

" Now I complain of nobody ; but simply in order 
that there may be no mistake as to what I did mean, 



3i6 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1870. 

and as to what I do mean, I will re-state my mean- 
ing, and I will do so in the words of a great thinker, 
a great writer, and a great scholar,* whose death, 
unfortunately for mankind, cut short his ' History of 
Civilization in England : ' — ' They may talk as they 
will about reforms which Government has introduced 
and improvements to be expected from legislation, 
but whoever will take a wider and more commanding 
view of human affairs, will soon discover that such 
hopes are chimerical. They will learn that lawgivers 
are nearly always the obstructors of society instead 
of its helpers, and that in the extremely few cases 
where their measures have turned out well, their 
success has been owing to the fact that, contrary to 
their usual custom, they have implicitly obeyed the 
spirit of their time, and have been — as they always 
should be — the mere servants of the people, to 
whose wishes they are bound to give a public and 
legal sanction.* " 

During the past winter Dickens resumed his read- 
ings at St. James's Hall, and to avoid the necessity of 
frequent journeyings to and from Gad's Hill, he rented 
for six months the town house of his old friend, Mr. 
Milner Gibson, in Hyde Park-place, which he con- 
tinued to occupy up to the end of May last. This 
house in future will have a special interest, from the 
fact that here, in his bedroom on the first floor, 
with the roar of Oxford-street beneath him — his 

* Henry Thomas Buckle. 



1870.] THE FAREWELL READINGS. 317 

studies suffered no interruption from street noises — a 
large part of his unfinished work, " Edwin Drood," 
was written. 

We may mention that Mr. Dickens's father-in-law, 
Mr. George Hogarth, died on the 12th February, in 
his 87th year. In his earlier days he was Sir Walter 
Scott's law agent, and was personally acquainted 
with most of the literary characters of the day. 
Christopher North, in "Noctes Ambrosianae," makes 
mention of him. He was musical critic on the staff 
of the Daily News, from the time of its starting until 
1866, when failing health compelled him to resign his 
post. 

On the 15th of March Dickens gave his "Farewell 
Reading," at St. James's Hall. It was his favourite 
selection — the " Christmas Carol," and " The Trial 
from Pickwick." Long before the hour appointed, 
the thoroughfare leading to the hall was blocked up, 
and when the doors were open every seat was instantly 
taken, and many thousands of people were unable 
to obtain admittance. As if to assure his auditors 
that his powers were undiminished, he read with more 
than usual spirit and energy, and his voice was clear 
to the last. At the conclusion, and after the " Trial 
from Pickwick," in which the speeches of the oppos- 
ing counsel, and the owlish gravity of the judge, 
seemed to be delivered and depicted with greater 
dramatic power than ever, the applause of the audi- 
ence rang for several minutes through the hall, and 
when it had subsided, Mr. Dickens, with evidently 



3l8 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1870. 

Strong emotion, but in his usual distinct and impres- 
sive manner, spoke as follows : — 

" Ladies and gentlemen, — It would be worse than 
idle — for it would be hypocritical and unfeeling — 
if I were to disguise that I close this episode in my 
life with feelings of very considerable pain. For 
some fifteen years, in this hall and in many kindred 
places, I have had the honour of presenting my own 
cherished ideas before you for your recognition, and, 
in closely observing your reception of them, have 
enjoyed an amount of artistic delight and instruction 
which, perhaps, is given to few men to know. In 
this task, and in every other I have ever undertaken, 
as a faithful serv^ant of the public, always imbued 
with a sense of duty to them, and always striving to 
do his best, I have been uniformly cheered by the 
readiest response, the most generous sympathy, and 
the most stimulating support. Nevertheless, I have 
thought it well, at the full flood-tide of your favour, 
to retire upon those older associations between us, 
which date from much further back than these, and 
henceforth to devote myself exclusively to the art 
that first brought us together. Ladies and gentlemen, 
in but two short weeks from this time I hope that 
you may enter, in your own homes, on a new series 
of readings, at which my assistance will be indis- 
pensable ;* but from these garish lights I vanish now 
for evermore, with a heartfelt, grateful, respectful, and 
affectionate farewell." 
* Alluding to the forthcoming serial story of " Edwin Drood." 



1870.] FAILING HEALTH. 319 

The speaker then retired, amidst acclamations of 
the most enthusiastic description, hats and handker- 
chiefs being waved in every part of the hall. 

Since the illustrious author's decease, this address 
has acquired a peculiar significance by reason of that 
almost prophetic line : " From these garish lights I 
vanish now for evermore." 

Shortly after, on April 5, he was with his friends 
the Newsvendors, presiding at the annual dinner of 
their Benevolent and Provident Institution. He was 
in excellent spirits, and his speech upon the occasion 
was a most humorous one. Those who were present 
will remember with what inimitable gravity he told 
this story : — 

" I was once present at a social discussion, which 
originated by chance. The subject was, * What was 
the most absorbing and longest-lived passion in the 
human breast ? What was the passion so powerful 
that it would almost induce the generous to be mean, 
the careless to be cautious, the guileless to be deeply 
designing, and the dove to emulate the serpent } ' 
A daily editor of vast experience and great acuteness, 
who was one of the company, considerably surprised 
us by saying with the greatest confidence that the 
passion in question was the passion of getting orders 
for the play. 

" There had recently been a terrible shipwreck, and 
very few of the surviving sailors had escaped in an 
open boat One of these on making land came 
straight to London, and straight to the newspaper 



320 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1870. 

office, with his story of how he had seen the ship go 
down before his eyes. That young man had witnessed 
the most terrible contention between the powers of 
fire and water for the destruction of that ship and of 
every one on board. He had rowed away among the 
floating, dying, and the sinking dead. He had floated 
by day, and he had frozen by night, with no shelter 
and no food, and, as he told this dismal tale, he rolled 
his haggard eyes about the room. When he had 
finished, and the tale had been noted down from his 
lips, he was cheered, and refreshed, and soothed, and 
asked if anything could be done for him. Even 
within him that master passion was so strong that he 
immediately replied he should like an order for the 
play." 

" One of his latest acts in the way of business," 
Mr. Hingston writes to us, "was in relation to Miss 
Glyn, and her then approaching reading at St. James's 
Hall, with her departure for Australia. I persuaded 
Miss Glyn, some five weeks since, to take a trip to 
Australia, and I drew out a form of agreement. 
Dickens took great interest in her welfare ; the 
agreement had to be submitted to him. It was sent 
back with his annotations and suggestions, all of 
which were eminently practical, and very illustrative 
of his keen business abilities. He acted as a lawyer 
would for a client." 

Towards the end of the month he again became 
indisposed. A promise that he had made to dine 
at the annual dinner of the General Theatrical Fund 



1870.] FAILING HEALTH. 321 

he found himself unable to keep, and at the last 
moment he telegraphed that he was too unwell to 
attend. Two days later he sent a short note to one 
of his intimates, postponing a little expedition which 
had been arranged, and stating that the old enemy in 
his foot was again causing him annoyance. 

On 2nd May he was better — sufficiently well, 
indeed, to accept the invitation of his artist friends, 
and to dine with them at the opening of the Royal 
Academy. 

Mr. Arthur Locker writes : — " The last time I saw 
him was a few weeks since, when I had the pleasure 
of meeting him at dinner. To all outward appear- 
ance he then looked like a man who would live and 
work until he was fourscore. I was especially struck 
by the brilliancy and vivacity of his eyes. There 
seemed as much life and animation in them as in 
twenty ordinary pairs of eyes." 

It was at the Academy dinner that he made his 
last public speech, and his concluding words upon 
this occasion were a tribute to the memory of his 
dear friend, Daniel Maclise, then recently deceased : — 
" Since," he said, " I first entered the public lists, a 
very young man indeed, it has been my constant 
fortune to number amongst my nearest and dearest 
friends members of the Royal Academy who have 
been its grace and pride. They have so dropped 
from my side, one by one, that I already begin to 
feel like the Spanish monk, of whom Wilkie tells, 
who had grown to believe that the only realities 

X 



322 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1870. 

around him were the pictures which he loved, and 
that all the moving life he saw, or ever had seen, was 
a shadow and a dream. 

" For many years I was one of the two most in- 
timate friends and most constant companions of the 
late Mr. Maclise. Of his genius in his chosen art I 
will venture to say nothing here, but of his prodigious 
fertility of mind, and wonderful wealth of intellect, I 
may confidently assert that they would have made 
him, if he had been so minded, at least as great a 
writer as he was a painter. The gentlest and most 
modest of men, the freshest as to his generous ap- 
preciation of young aspirants, and the frankest and 
largest-hearted as to his peers, incapable of a sordid 
or ignoble thought, gallantly sustaining the true 
dignity of his vocation, without one grain of self- 
ambition, wholesomely natural at the last as at the 
first, ' in wit a man, simplicity a child,' no artist, of 
whatever denomination, I make bold to say, ever 
went to his rest leaving a golden memory more pure 
from dross, or having devoted himself with a truer 
chivalry to the art goddess whom he worshipped," 




CHAPTER XXX. 

INTERVIEW WITH THE QUEEN. — LAST ILLNESS. — 
DEATH. — BURIAL IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 



^^ 



NLY since the death of Mr. Dickens is it that 
the high respect in which Her Majesty has 
always held the great novelist and his writ- 
ings has become generally known, but for many years 
past our Queen has taken the liveliest interest in his 
literary labours, and has frequently expressed a desire 
for an interview with him. And here it may not be 
uninteresting to mention a circumstance in illustration 
of Her Majesty's regard for her late distinguished 
subject which came under the writer's personal notice. 
Six years ago, just before the library of Mr. Thackeray 
was sold off at Palace Green, Kensington, a catalogue 
of the books was sent to Her Majesty — in all proba- 
bility by her request. She desired some memorial of 
the great man, and preferred to make her own 
selection by purchase rather than ask the family for 
any memento by way of gift. There were books 
with odd drawings from Thackeray's pen and pencil, 

X 2 



324 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [187a 

there were others crammed with MS. notes, but there 
was one lot thus described in the catalogue : — 

Dickens (C.) A Christmas Carol, in prose, 1843 ; 
Presentation Copy^ 

INSCRIBED 

" W. M. Thackeray, from Charles Dickens (whom Jte 
made very happy once a long way from home)!* 

Her Majesty expressed the strongest desire to 
possess this, and sent an unlimited commission to buy- 
it. The original published price of the book was 5 s. 
It became Her Majesty's property for £2^ los., and 
was at once taken to the palace. 

The personal interview Her Majesty had long 
expressed a desire to have with Mr. Dickens took 
place on the 9th April, 1870, when he received her 
commands to attend her at Buckingham Palace, and 
accordingly did so, being introduced by his friend, 
Mr. Arthur Helps, the Clerk of the Privy Council. 

The interview was a lengthened one, and most 
satisfactory to both. In the course of it Her Majesty 
expressed to him her warm interest in and admiration 
of his works, and on parting presented him with a 
copy of her own book, " Our Life in the Highlands," 
with an autograph inscription, " Victoria R. to Charles 
Dickens," on the flyleaf; at the same time making a 
charmingly modest and graceful remark as to the 
relative positions occupied in the world of letters by 
the donor and the recipient of the book. =^ 

Soon after his return home, he sent to Her Majesty 



pr 



1870.] INTERVIEW WITH THE QUEEN. 325 

an edition of his collected works ; and when the 
Clerk of the Council recently went to Balmoral 
the Queen, knowing the friendship that existed 
between Mr. Dickens and Mr. Helps, showed the 
latter where she had placed the gift of the great 
novelist. This was in her own private library, in 
order that she might always see the books ; and Her 
Majesty expressed her desire that Mr. Helps should 
inform the great novelist of this arrangement.* 

Since our author's decease, the journal with, which 
he was formerly connected has said : — 

" We were not at liberty at that time to make 
known that the QUEEN was then personally occupied 
with the consideration of some means by which she 
might, in her public capacity, express her sense of 
the value of Mr. DiCKENS's services to his country 
and to literature. It may now be stated that the 
Queen was ready to confer any distinction which 
Mr. Dickens's known views and tastes would permit 
him to accept, and that after more than one title of 
honour had been declined, HER MAJESTY desired 
that he would, at least, accept a place in her Privy 
Council." 

Three days before this he had attended the levee, 
and been presented to her son H. R. H. The Prince 

* Immediately on his return from Balmoral, Mr. Helps 
wrote to Mr. Dickens, in pursuance of^Her Majesty's desire ; but 
the letter that contained so remarkable a tribute to the great 
novelist could only have reached Gad's Hill while he lay uncon- 
scious and dying. 



326 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [1870- 

of Wales, introduced by the Earl De Grey and 
Ripon. 

His daughter, Miss Dickens, was presented at 
Court to Her Majesty on the loth of the following 
month, introduced by the Countess Russell. 

As recently as the 17th of May last, among the 
names appearing in the Court Circular as having 
attended the State Ball at Buckingham Palace on 
that day, were those of Mr. and Miss Dickens. 

The fact of Mr. Dickens going more into society 
than usual during the past spring, and entertaining 
his friends — always with the utmost hospitality — 
rather more frequently than was his custom, had 
been observed by those who knew him. But he con- 
tinued to complain that he was not well, and when he 
felt a little of his old robust health returning to him 
he seemed to desire the recreation of society, the 
company of friends. Literary composition was a 
task — not a pleasure, as formerly. 

As showing his great fondness for the stage, it 
may be mentioned, that almost the last — if not 
the very last — occasion on which he appeared in 
London society, was in connection with an ex- 
hibition of amateur theatricals given at the house of 
Mr. Freake, at South Kensington, only a very few 
days before his death. 

" The Mystery of Edwin Drood," we are told, gave 
its author more trouble than any of his former works. 
He complained of this, perhaps with a sad presage of 
the truth. He had, he thought, told too much of the 



pr 



1870.] LAST ILLNESS. 327 

Story in the early numbers, and his thoughts did not 
flow so freely as of yore. 

The personal friend, who has before assisted us 
with his reminiscences, shall tell the rest : — 

" Unquestionably he had very much aged in 
appearance during the two previous years ; the 
thought-graven lines in his face were deeper, the 
beard and hair were more grizzled, the complexion 
ruddier, but not so healthy in hue. He walked, too, 
less and less actively — latterly, indeed, dragging one 
leg rather wearily behind him. But he maintained 
the bluff, frank, hearty presence, and the deep cheery 
voice ; his hand, given to his friend, had all its affec- 
tionate grip, and the splendid beauty of the dark 
eyes remained undimmed to the last. 

" How that last came about is now well known. 
He returned home to Gad's Hill, where, during his 
absence, some ornamental alterations, which he had 
previously planned, had been carried out, on Tuesday, 
the 31st of May. He was not then in good health, 
and complained that his work fatigued and worried 
him. On Wednesday, while sitting at dinner 
with his sister-in-law, Miss Hogarth, a change came 
over the expression of his face, which alarmed his 
companion. She proposed to send for medical assis- 
tance, but he refused, putting his hand to his face, 
complaining of toothache, and desiring that the 
window might be shut. It was shut at once, and he 
rose to leave the room, but after taking a few steps, 
he fell heavily on his left side, and remained uncon- 



328 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS, [1870. 

scious until his death, which took place at ten minutes 
past six, on Thursday, June 9, 1870, just twenty- 
four hours after the attack. Medical assistance had 
been summoned ; Mr. Frank Beard, Mr. Steele, of 
Strood, and Dr. Russell Reynolds all saw him, hut 
he was beyond the reach of science. 



'* He died of apoplexy — an effusion of blood on 
the brain — and an attack of this kind must have 
been apprehended by Mr. Frank Beard, when he 
caused such prompt and decisive measures to be 
taken last year at Preston." 

That he died from overwork is now too clear. The 
day preceding his death had been passed at the desk 
in literary composition and correspondence, and 
already three letters written by him on that day 
have been published. 

Only a few weeks before he wrote to a friend : — " I 
have ' placed ' your touching poem, ' The God's Acre,* 
which will appear in the next number." The poem 
describes a very old man, and a very young child, in 
a churchyard, on a sunny Sunday ; the old man 
reflecting, the child gathering flowers ; and predicts 
that, as the " old, old fruit has ripened, death will not 
tarry long." Contrary to probability, it is the little 
child that dies within a few days, and not the octo- 
genarian. The verses conclude with a reflection that, 
in the after-light shed upon it by Dickens's early 
death, possesses a mournful interest : — 



1870.] DEATH. 329 

** Whom the gods love die early : 

Our Father knoweth best. 
And it is wrong to murmur 

At the high behest. 
Sleep gently, blighted blossom ; 

Sleep, and take thy rest." 



When Mr. Helps received the news of Dickens's 
death he immediately telegraphed the fact to Her 
Majesty, at Balmoral, and received the subjoined 
sympathetic response, " From Colonel Ponsonby to 
Mr. Helps, Council Office — The Queen commands 
me to express her deepest regret at the sad news of 
Charles Dickens's death." 

He died on the anniversary of the dreadful Staple- 
hurst railway accident, and the shock his nerves 
received on that occasion it is believed he never en- 
tirely got over. 

" The friends in the habit of meeting Mr. Dickens 
privately, recall now the energy with which he depicted 
that dreadful scene, and how, as the climax of his 
story came, and its dread interest grew, he would rise 
from the table, and literally act the parts of the 
various sufferers to whom he lent a helping hand. 
One of the first surgeons of the day, who was present 
soon after the Staplehurst occurrence, remarked that 
* the worst of these railway accidents was the diffi- 
culty of determining the period at which the system 
could be said to have survived the shock, and that 
instances were on record of two or three years having 



330 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1870. 



gone by before the sufferer knew that he was seriously- 
hurt.' " 

As if with a presentiment of what was coming, he 
completed his will just seven days before he was 
struck down. After his wishes had been put into 
legal form by his solicitors, he copied out the entire 
document in his own handwriting. By a codicil to this 
document he bequeathed the whole of his Interest in 
All the Year Round \.o his acting editor and eldest 
son, coupling the bequest with such private instruc- 
tions as would, he believed, ensure the character and 
merit of the periodical remaining unchanged after he 
had gone. Mr. John Forster, who had been on inti- 
mate terms with Dickens for more than thirty years, 
and Miss Hogarth, his sister-in-law, and "the best 
friend I ever had," to use his own words, were his 
appointed executors. 

His affairs have been left In perfect order — In that 
order which, to the great man throughout life, was 
law. Concerning the disposition of his remains clear 
Instructions were also left behind. He desired no 
publicity about his funeral, none of the well-meant 
assembling of friends when his remains should be 
committed to the earth. It is understood that he 
had expressed a wish to lie In his own favourite 
Rochester, as near as possible to the ruins of the 
old castle there, and in a spot which he had 
already pointed out. The burial-ground referred to 
is adjacent to the walls of the castle, and belongs to 
the parish of St. Nicholas, Rochester. It has been 



1870.J DEA TH. 331 

closed for some time, and for it to be re-opened per- 
mission of the Secretary of State would have to be 
obtained. 

But immediately following the sad intelligence of 
his death came the universally expressed desire that 
his remains should rest in Westminster Abbey — in 
that Poet's Corner which has been consecrated to the 
greatest, the wisest, the best of our countrymen. 
Dean Stanley at once communicated with the 
family, and in an interview with Mr. Charles Dickens, 
jun., begged that the national wish might be complied 
with. This was on the Friday. From that time 
until Monday evening the matter was under earnest 
consideration. Mr. Dickens's family took counsel 
with their father's dearest and oldest friends, and 
after due deliberation and consultation on the 
terms of the written instructions they held, asked 
the Dean of Westminster whether it would be 
possible to have certain conditions complied with 
if they consented that the interment should be at 
Westminster t 

The answer was satisfactory, and arrangements 
were at once made for the funeral to take place in 
the most private manner possible, on the following 
day, Tuesday, the 14th June, 1870. A special train, 
bearing his remains, left Rochester early in the 
morning. At the Charing Cross station a waiting 
room had been set apart for the mourners, and on the 
arrival of the body, three plain mourning coaches, 
having none of the feathers or dismal frippery of the 



333 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS, [1870. 

undertaker, drew up to receive those personal friends 
and relatives who were to witness the burial of the 
great man. In coming to the Abbey, in the first 
coach were the late Mr. Dickens's children, Mr. 
Charles Dickens, jun., Mr. Harry Dickens, Miss 
Dickens, Mrs. Charles Collins. In the second coach 
were Mrs. Austin, his sister ; Mrs. Charles Dickens, 
jun. ; Miss Hogarth, his sister-in-law ; Mr. John 
Forster. In the third coach, Mr. Frank Beard, his 
medical attendant ; Mr. Charles Collins, his son-in- 
law ; Mr. Ouvry, his solicitor; Mr. Wilkie Collins ; 
Mr. Edmund Dickens, his nephew. 

Upon reaching the Abbey, the doors were imme- 
diately closed and the coaches dismissed. The cere- 
mony was at once proceeded with. The Dean read 
our solemn burial service in a manner which showed 
how strong were his own emotions ; and the great 
organ chimed subdued and low. The solemnity of 
the scene was indeed striking — the vast place empty, 
save for the little group of heart-stricken people by 
an open grave. A plain oak coffin, with a brass plate 
bearing the inscription — 

CHARLES DICKENS, 
Born February /th, 1812, 
Died June 9TH, 1870, . 

a coffin strewed with wreaths and flowers by the 
female mourners, and then — dust to dust and ashes 
to ashes ! — such was the funeral of the great man who 



w 



X870.] BURIAL IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 333 

has gone. There were no cloaks, no crapes, no bands 
or scarves — none of that mocking paraphernalia of 
the professional undertaker which Dickens so strongly- 
objected to. When the subject of his funeral was 
being discussed, Mr. Oilier told us how strongly the 
great man had objected to take part in the ceremony 
which was performed over the grave of Leigh Hunt, 
in Kensal Green, during the past summer. 

**In August last," writes Mr. OlHer, one of the 
honorary secretaries of the Leigh Hunt Memorial 
Fund, "I requested Mr. Dickens to inaugurate the 
monument in Kensal Green Cemetery, and to deliver 
a short address on the spot — a task which was after- 
wards excellently performed by Lord Houghton.'* 
To this the great novelist replied : — " My dear Mr. 
Oilier, — I am very sensible of the feeling of the com- 
mittee towards me, and I receive their invitation 
(conveyed through you) as a most acceptable mark 
of their consideration. But I have a very strong 
objection to speech-making beside graves. I do not 
expect or wish my feeling in this wise to guide other 
men ; still, it is so serious with me, and the idea of 
ever being the subject of such a ceremony myself 
is so repugnant to my soul, that I must decline 
to officiate. — Faithfully yours always, CHARLES 
Dickens. Edmund Oilier, Esq." 

But the most energetic protest against the hideous 
fineries of the undertaker is to be found in an article 
entitled " Trading in Death," which appeared in 
Household Words, about November, 1852. It is 



334 I-IFE OF CHARLES DICKENST [1870. 

not generally known that this article — which pro- 
duced much comment at the time — came from his 
pen. 

On Sunday, the 19th June, Dean Stanley preached 
the funeral sermon in Westminster Abbey. An 
announcement to this effect had been made in the 
daily journals, and long before the hour appointed for 
the service a vast body of people had assembled at 
the doors. Immediately these were opened every 
available seat was taken, and many thousands 
of persons remained in distant parts of the building 
until the conclusion of the sermon. Amongst the 
many distinguished individuals present, the two 
who attracted most notice were the Poet Laureate 
and Mr. Thomas Carlyle. Mr. Dickens ever 
respected the great genius of Tennyson, and the 
poet has always expressed the highest admiration for 
the writings of Charles Dickens. It was fitting, 
therefore, that the surviving author should be present 
at this last ceremony over the great novelist's remains. 
The poet was accommodated with a seat inside the 
sacrarium ; Mr. Carlyle sat in the body of the 
building. The family and relations of Mr. Dickens 
were in the gallery to the north of Poet's Corner. 
Dean Stanley was not well ; indeed, he had for some 
days been complaining of severe indisposition, but, in 
spite of physical weakness, he determined to carry out 
the duty of the day. He took as his text the verses 
in the 15 th and i6th chapters of St. Luke, which 
embody the parable of the rich man and Lazarus : — 



w 



1870.] BURIAL IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 335 

" He spoke this parable. There was a certain rich man 
which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared 
sumptuously every day. And there was a certain 
beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate 
full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs 
that fell from the rich man's table. And moreover 
dogs came and licked his sores." 

The eloquent and impressive sermon which followed 
was listened to with breathless attention, and many 
a cheek was moist with tears during its progress. 
There was in the whole scene something unusually 
impressive — the enormous congregation covering 
every inch of ground in choir, and sacrarium, and 
transepts ; the unbroken silence, or broken only by 
sobs ; the careworn, delicate face and attenuated 
form of the preacher, struggling against overwhelm- 
ing bodily weakness to reach the congregation that 
hung on his lips. 

After commenting at some length upon the parable 
of the New Testament, and especially upon the one 
selected for their consideration that morning, the 
preacher thus applied the text : — 

" It is said to have been the distinguishing glory 
of a famous Spanish saint that she was the advocate 
of the absent. That is precisely the advocacy of this 
divine parable, and of those modern parables which 
most represent its spirit — the advocacy, namely, of 
the poor, the absent, the neglected, of the weaker 
side, whom, not seeing, we are tempted to forget. It 
was the part of him whom we have lost to make the 



336 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. [187a 

rich man, faring sumptuously every day, not fail to 
see the presence of the poor man at his gate. The 
suffering inmates of our workhouses — the neglected 
children in the dens and caves of this great city — the 
starved ill-used boys in remote schools, far from the 
observation of men — these all felt a new ray of sun- 
shine poured into their dark prisons, and a new 
interest awakened in their forlorn and desolate lot, 
because an unknown friend had pleaded their cause 
with a voice that rang through the palaces of the 
great as well as through the cottages of the poor. 
In his pages, with gaunt figures and hollow voices, 
they were made to stand and speak before those who 
had before hardly dreamed of their existence. But 
was it mere compassion which this created .-* The 
same master hand which drew the sorrows of the 
English poor drew also the picture of the unselfish- 
ness, the kindness, the courageous patience, and the 
tender thoughtfulness that lie concealed under many 
a coarse exterior, and are to be found in many a 
degraded home. When the little workhouse boy 
wins his way, pure and undefiled, through the mass 
of wickedness around him — ^when the little orphan 
girl, who brings thoughts of Heaven into the hearts 
of all around her, is as the very gift of God to the 
old man who sheltered her life — these are scenes 
which no human being can read without being the 
better for it. ^; He laboured to teach us that there is 
even in the worst of mankind a soul of goodness 
— a soul worth revealing, worth reclaiming, worth 



}r 



1870.] FUNERAL SERMON. 337 

regenerating. He laboured to teach the rich and 

educated how this better side was to be found, even 

in the most neglected Lazarus, and to tell the poor 

no less to respect this better part of themselves — to 

remember that they also have a calling to be good 

and great, if they will but hear it. 

***** 

" There is one more thought that arises on this occa- 
sion. As, in the parable, we are forcibly impressed 
with the awful solemnity of the other world, so on 
this day a feeling rises in us, before which the most 
brilliant powers of genius and the most lively sallies 
of wit wax faint. When, on Tuesday last, we stood 
beside that open grave, in the still deep silence of the 
summer morning, in the midst of this vast solitary 
space, broken only by that small band of fourteen 
mourners, it was impossible not to feel that there is 
something more sacred than any worldly glory, how- 
ever bright — or than any mausoleum, however mighty 
— and that is the return of the human soul into the 
hands of its Maker. Many, many are the feet that 
have trodden, and will tread, the consecrated ground 
around his grave. Many, many are the hearts which, 
both in the old world and the new, are drawn towards 
it as towards the resting place of a dear personal 
friend. Many are the flowers that have been strewn 
— many the tears that have been shed^ — by the grateful 
affection of the poor that have cried — of the father- 
less — and of those that have none to help them. 
May I speak to them a few sacred words, that will: 

Y 



-338 ' LIFE OF CHARLES niCKENS. [1870. 

come perhaps with a new meaning and a deeper 
force, because they come from the hps of their lost 
friend — because they are the most solemn utterances 
of lips now closed for ever in the grave ? They are 
extracted from the will of Charles Dickens, dated 
May 12, 1869, and will now be heard by many for 
the first time. After the most emphatic injunctions re- 
specting the inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly 
private manner of his funeral — injunctions which 
have been carried out to the very letter — he thus 
continues : — 

"*/ direct that my name be inscribed in plain English 
letters on my tomb. I conjure m,y friends on no 
account to make me the subject of any mo7iuinent^ 
Tnemorialf or testimonial whatever. I rest my claim 
to the remembrance of my country on my published 
works, and to the remembrance of my friends in their 
experience of m.e hi addition thereto. I commit my soid 
to the mercy of God, through our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ ; and I exhort my dear children himibly 
to try to guide thejnselves by the teaching of the New 
Testament, in its broad spirit, and to put no faith in 
any mans narrow construction of its letter here or 
there^ 

" In that simple but sufficient faith he lived and 
died. In that simple and sufficient faith he bids you 
live and die. If any of you have learnt from his 
works the value — the eternal value — of generosity, of 
purity, of kindness, of unselfishness, and have learnt 
to show these in your own hearts and lives, then 



1870.] HIS LAST RESTING PLACE. 339 

remember that these are the best monuments, 
memorials, and testimonials of the friend whom you 
have loved, and who loved with a marvellous and 
exceeding love his children, his country, and his 
fellow-men. These are monuments which he would 
not refuse, and which the humblest and poorest 
and youngest here have it in their power to raise to 
his memory." 

The beautiful anthem, " When the ear heard him," 
was then sung, and the remainder of the service was 
gone through. The dispersion of the congregation 
was a work of time, for, although three doors were 
open, nearly every person present passed out by 
Poet's Corner, in order to take a last look at Charles 
Dickens's grave. 

He lies, without one of his injunctions respecting 
his funeral having been violated, surrounded by poets 
and men of genius. Shakspeare's marble ^^gy looks 
upon his grave ; at his feet are Dr. Johnson and 
David Garrick ; his head is by Addison and Handel ; 
while Oliver Goldsmith, Rowe, Southey, Campbell, 
Thomson, Sheridan, Macaulay, and Thackeray, or 
their memorials, encircle him. Thus "Poet's Corner," 
the most familiar spot in the whole Abbey, has 
received an illustrious addition to its peculiar glory. 
Separated from Dickens's grave, by the statues of 
Shakspeare, Southey, and Thomson, and close by 
the door to "Poet's Corner," are the memorials of 
Ben Jonson, Dr. Samuel Butler, Milton, Spenser, 
and Gray ; while Chaucer, Dryden, Cowley, Mason, 

Y 2 



\ 



340 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



[1870. 



Shadwell, and Prior are hard by, and tell the by- 
stander, with their wealth of great names, how — 

•' These poets near our princes sleep. 
And in one grave their mansion keep.** 



*e?€^^^$s^ 



APPENDIX. 



N D E R this heading a few detached 
anecdotes, and some additional particulars, 
are given : — 



THE FIRST HINT OF "PICKWICK'':^ 
A great deal has been said as to the origin 
of " Pickwick," and in the chapter devoted to a 
consideration of this favourite work, the present 
writer has stated from whence the name at least was 
taken. He did not, however, for the moment re- 
member a conversation upon the subject which he 
had with a friend not long since, which conversation 
was shortly followed by a letter from him upon this 
same topic. The letter runs thus, and the com- 
piler of this little book trusts he may be pardoned 
for quoting it : — 

"When I stated to you that Dickens took his 
ideal of novel-writing from the works of Mr. Pierce 
Egan, I had nothing but internal evidence to go upon. 



34a LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 

When he began to write, the most popular fictions 
were the descriptions of * Life in London ' connected 
with the names of * Tom ' and * Jerry. ' The grand 
object of Dickens, as a novelist, has been to depict 
not so much human life as human life in London, 
and this he has done after a fashion which he learnt 
from the * Life in London ' of Mr. Pierce Egan. If 
you remember that once famous book, you will call 
to mind how he takes his heroes — the everlasting 
Tom and Jerry — now to a fencing-saloon, now to a 
dancing-house, now to a chop-house, now to a 
spunging-house. The object is not to evolve the 
characters of Tom and Jerry, but to introduce them 
in new scene after new scene. And so you will find 
with Dickens. He invents new characters, but he 
never invents them without at the same time invent- 
ing new situations and surroundings of London life. 
Other novelists would not object to invent new 
characters appearing in the same position of life as 
the characters in some preceding novel, and trusting 
for novelty to the newness of the surroundings and 
the situation. Dickens insists upon putting the new 
characters into a new and unexpected trade — doll- 
making perhaps, or newsvending — and he has 
always in view some new phase of London life 
which he is far more anxious to exhibit than the 
characters without which it is impossible to bring 
the phase into prominence. If you look to his 
writings, or if you talk to him, you will find that his 
first thought is to find out something new about 



ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 343 

London life — some new custom or trade or mode of 
living — and his second thought is to imagine the 
people engaged in that custom or trade or mode of 
living. Now this is Pierce Egan's style — and Dickens, 
with rare genius, and with large sympathies, has 
followed in grooves which the once celebrated Pierce 
laid down. Pierce' Egan had no wit, and his con- 
versations are not worth mentioning. Dickens riots 
in wit, and what Pierce would have shown in a 
description, Dickens makes out in a conversation. 
But the objects of the two men to magnify London 
life, and to show it in all its phases, were the same." 
Upon examining Pierce Egan's " Finish " — a sequel 
to his "Life in London" — we certainly find the 
characters are somewhat similar to those in " Pick- 
wick." In other matters, too, a parallel may be 
drawn — thus, the Bench instead of the Fleet, and 
the archery match instead of the shooting party. 
But the most curious coincidence is that the " Fat 
Knight" — the counterpart of Mr. Pickwick — is first 
met by Corinthian Tom at the village of Pickwick I* 

* The writer thinks it scarcely necessary to say that these 
remarks upon the origin — the first hint — of " Pickwick " are not 
to be understood as intended in any way to detract from the 
great novelist's fair fame for originality. On the contrary, it 
is believed that the time has now come when it will be a 
delight with students to trace his reading, and, if possible, catch 
some glimpse of the origin of those inimitable cJiaracters which 
will live for ever in English fiction. 



344 LIF^ OF CHARLES DICKENS. 

■^DICKENS AND THE "MORNING 
CHRONICLED — ^Various and conflicting accounts 
of Dickens's earliest " Sketches " have been given, 
and of the circumstances under which he first con- 
tributed to the evening edition of the Moriting 
Chronicle ; but the following extract, wdiich we have 
been permitted to make from a long unpublished 
letter, will set the question at rest. The letter was 
addressed to the late Mr. George Hogarth, then 
connected with the Morning Chronicle, and was the 
beginning of a friendship between the two which 
ended in Mr. Dickens marrying Mr. Hogarth's 
daughter : — 

" . . . . As you begged me to write an original 
sketch for the first number of the new evening paper, 
and as I trust to your kindness to refer my applica- 
tion to the proper quarter, should I be unreasonably 
or improperly trespassing upon you, I beg to ask 
whether it is probable that if I commenced a series 
of articles, under some attractive title, for the Evening 
Chronicle, its conductors would think I had any claim 
to so7?te additional remuneration — of course, of no 
great amount — for doing so. 

" Let me beg you not to misunderstand my mean- 
ing. Whatever the reply may be, I promised you an 
article, and shall supply it with the utmost readiness, 
and with an anxious desire to do my best ; which I 
honestly assure you would be the feeling with which 
I should always receive any request coming personally 
from yourself. .... I merely wish to put it to the 



ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 34S 

proprietors — first, whether a continuation of light 
papers, in the style of my ' Street Sketches,' would be 
considered of use to the new paper ; and secondly, 
if so, whether they do nat think it fair and reasonable 
that — taking my share of the ordinary reporting busi- 
ness of the Chronicle besides — I should receive some- 
thing for the papers beyond my ordinary salary as a 
reporter ? " * 

The offer was accepted, the then sub-editor informs 
us, and Mr. Dickens received an increase in his salary 
of from five guineas per week to seven guineas. 



PORTRAITS OF DICKENS.— Besides those 
enumerated in the body of this book, there are others 
which should be mentioned. A very remarkable one 
was etched about 1837, with the name " Phiz" at the 
foot. It represents Dickens seated on a chair, and 
holding a portfolio. In the background a Punch- 
and-Judy performance is going on. The face has 
none of that delicacy and softness about it which 
are observable in the Maclise portrait. It looks, 
however, more like the real young face of the older 
man, as revealed in the photograph now publishing. 
This portrait is very rare, and it is understood that 
it was withdrawn from publication soon after it ap- 
peared. Mr. Hablot K. Browne — the genuine " Phiz " 
— denies all knowledge of it. 

♦ Dated " 1 3, Furnival's Inn, Tuesday Evening, Jan. 20, 

[1835.] ■' 



346 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 

There exists a portrait by S. Lawrence, which was 
lithographed by W. Taylor. 

In 1856, Ary Scheffer's portrait of the great 
novelist was exhibited in the Royal Academy. It 
was hard and cold, and gave general dissatisfaction. 

Mr. Frith painted a portrait of his friend, repre- 
senting him writing his celebrated compositions at 
his plain, but workmanlike, desk. This portrait is 
now the property of the great novelist's friend and 
executor, Mr. John Forster ; and, in due time, will be 
hung on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery. 
In the Exhibition of the Royal Academy for 1857, 
Mr. Frith exhibited a picture (No. 125), "Kate 
NIckleby at Madame Mantallni's." Kate is holding 
a mantle, while Miss Knagg (reflected in the cheval 
glass) is trying on another. 



THE NAMES OF DICKENS'S CHA- 
RACTERS. — It is well known that the quaint 
surnames of his characters, concerning which essays 
have been written, were the result of much pains- 
taking. Dickens, with a genius which might have 
justified his trusting it implicitly and solely, placed 
his chief reliance on his own hard labour. It is said 
that when he saw a strange or odd name on a shop- 
board, or in walking through a village or country 
town, he entered it in his pocket-book, and added it 
to his reserve list. Then, runs the story, when he 
wanted a striking surname for a new character, he 



ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 347 

had but to take the first half of one real name, and 
to add it to the second half of another, to produce 
the exact effect upon the eye and ear of the reader 
he desired.* 

%* In Notes and Queries for August 28, 1858 (this 
periodical takes its motto from one of Mr. Dickens's 
characters), it was suggested that the name of 
" Carker " was framed from the Greek, as so much is 
said of Mr. Carker's teeth. Mr. Dickens, however, 
replied to this, that the coincidence was undesigned. 
It has been further suggested that the name was 
made up from " canker " and *' carking " (as in 
" carking care "), which are very expressive of the 
blighting influence possessed by Carker. 

It has been stated that the Pickwickian names 
of Wardle, Lowten, and Dowler occur in the Annual 
Register's account of the Duke of York's trial, 1809. 

Some inquiry is made as to the names of Mr. 
Dickens's characters in an article on the novelist, in 
Blackwood's Magazine f K'^xAy 1855. 



DESCRIPTION OF ''BOZ" IN 1844.— Mr. 
R. H. Home, in his " New Spirit of the Age," gives 
this graphic description of him as he appeared when a 
young man : — " Mr. Dickens is, in private, very much 
what might be expected from his works — by no 
means an invariable coincidence. He talks much or 

* Daily News, June 1 1, 1 870. 



348 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 

little according to his sympathies. His conversation 
is genial. He hates argument ; in fact, he is unable 
to argue — a common case with impulsive characters 
who see the whole, and feel it crowding and struggling 
at once for immediate utterance. He never talks for 
effect, but for the truth or for the fun of the thing. 
He tells a story admirably, and generally with 
humorous exaggerations. His sympathies are of the 
broadest, and his literary tastes appreciate all ex- 
cellence. He is a great admirer of the poetry of 
Tennyson. Mr. Dickens has singular personal activity, 
and is fond of games of practical skill. He is also a 
great walker,* and very much given to dancing Sir 
Roger de Coverley. In private, the general im- 
pression of him is that of a first-rate practical intellect, 
with 'no nonsense ' about him. Seldom, if ever, has 
any man been more beloved by contemporary authors, 
and by the public of his time," 

DESCRIPTION OF DICKENS IN 1852.— 
Miss Clarke, an American lady, who visited England 
in 1852 with Miss Cushman and a friend, in her 

* " So much of my travelling is done on foot, that if I 
cherished betting propensities, I should probably be foand 
registered in sporting newspapers under some such title as the 
Elastic Novice, challenging all eleven-stone mankind to com- 
petition in walking. My last special feat was turning out of 
bed at two, after a hard day, pedestrian and otherwise, and 
walking thirty miles into the country to breakfast." — ("Sly 
Neighbourhoods," Uncommercial Traveller^ 



ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 349 

" Haps and Mishaps of a Tour in Europe " (written 
under the assumed name of Grace Greenwood), 
says : — 

"He is rather slight, with a symmetrical head, 
spiritedly borne, and eyes beaming alike with genius 
and humour. Yet, for all the power and beauty of 
these eyes, their changes seemed to me to be from 
light to light. I saw them in no profound, pathetic 
depths, and there was around them no tragic 
shadowing. But I was foolish to look for these 
on such an occasion, when they were very properly 
left in the author's study, with pens, ink, and blotting 
paper, and the last written pages of * Bleak House.'" 



BOZ'S TABLE HABITS.—Som^ of the 
American newspaper paragraphs about his personal 
tastes gave him considerable amusement. Said a 
Temperance Journal — 

" The prevailing idea, that Mr. Dickens is accus- 
tomed to a very generous diet, which has mainly 
arisen from the jovial tone of his writings, is quite in- 
correct, for we are credibly informed that he is very 
careful in such matters ! " 



THE MS. OF " OLIVER TWIST'— K portion 
of the MS. of " Oliver Twist," which originally 
appeared in Bentley's Miscellany^ is still in Mr. 
Bentley's possession. It has been suggested that 



3SO LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 

it might fittingly be placed in the British Museum 
by the side of the MS. of Sterne's " Sentimental 
Journey." 



DICKENS'S BENE VOLENCE.—Th.^ late Sheri- 
dan Knowles, in a letter to a friend, gave an instance 
of his generosity : — " Poor Haydn, the author of the 
* Dictionary of Dates,' and the * Book of Dignities ' 
(I believe I am right in the titles), was working, to 
my knowledge, under the pressure of extreme desti- 
tution, aggravated by wretchedly bad health, and a 
heart slowly breaking through efforts indefatigable, but 
vain, to support in comfort a wife and a young family. 
I could not afford him at the moment any material 
relief, and I wrote to Charles Dickens, stating his 
miserable case. My letter was no sooner received 
than it was answered — and how ? By a visit to his 
suffering brother, and not of condolence only, but 
of assistance — rescue ! Charles Dickens offered his 
purse to poor Haydn, and subsequently brought the 
case before the Literary Society, and so appealingly 
as to produce an immediate supply of £60. I need 
not say another word. I need not remark that such 
benevolence is not likely to occur solitarily. The fact 
I communicate I learned from poor Haydn himself. 
Dickens never breathed a word to me about it." 



HOOK AND DICKENS,-^'' A comparison 



ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 351 

seems almost to force itself upon our notice between 
the writings of Hook and those of a still more 
popular author, Mr. Charles Dickens. We shall not 
be tempted to pursue it further than to remark, that 
their subject-matter being in some measure the 
same, the former seems to survey society from a level 
more elevated and more distant than his competitor ; 
his delineations are in consequence genial and 
sketchy, those of the latter more technical and 
minute. Hook gives you a landscape, while ' Boz ' 
is tracing every leaf of a particular tree. The same 
analogy holds good as regards their moral teaching. 
Hook is pithy, pointed, and off-hand ; the reflections 
of Mr. Dickens are elaborated with a care that 
occasionally, perhaps, detracts from their effect. 
Hook has undoubtedly the advantage of more ex- 
perience of the world, but the palm of originality 
must, we should think, be awarded to his rival" — 
Barham's Life of Theodore Hook. 



METHODICAL HABITS AND PERSE- 
VERANCE. — One who knew him well says : — ** He 
did not work by fits and starts, but had regular 
hours for labour, commencing about ten and ending 
about two. It is an old saying, that easy writing is 
very difficult reading ; Mr. Dickens's works, so easily 
read, were by no means easily written. He la'~oured 
at them prodigiously, both in their conception and 
execution. During the whole time that he had a 



352 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 

book in hand, he wa^ much more thoughtful and pre- 
occupied than in his leisure moments," 

*^* Another friend has written : — " His hours and 
days were spent by rule. He rose at a certain time, 
he retired at another, and, though no precisian, it 
was not often that his arrangements varied. His 
hours for writing were between breakfast and lun- 
cheon, and when there was any work to be done, no 
temptation was sufficiently strong to cause it to be 
neglected. This order and regularity followed him 
through the day. His mind was essentially metho- 
dical, and in his long walks, in his recreations, in his 
labour, he was governed by rules laid down for him- 
self by himself, rules well studied beforehand, and 
rarely departed from. The so-called men of busi- 
ness, the people who own exclusive devotion to the 
science of profit and loss makes them regard doubt- 
fully all to whom that same science is not the main 
object of life, would have been delighted and amazed 
at this side of Dickens's character." 

*** " No writer set before himself more labori- 
ously the task of giving the public the very best. 
A great artist, who once painted his portrait while he 
was in the act of writing one of the most popular 
of his stories, relates that he was astonished at the 
trouble Dickens seemed to take over his work, at the 
number of forms in which he would write down a 
thought before he hit out the one which seemed 



ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES, 353 

to his fastidious fancy the best, and at the compara- 
tive smallness of manuscript each day's sitting 
seemed to have produced. Those, too, who have 
seen the original MSS. of his works, many of which 
he had bound and kept at his residence at Gad's Hill, 
describe them as full of interlineations and altera- 



MANNER OF LITERAR Y COMPOSITION, 
— A writer in a weekly journal says : — " I remember 
well one evening, spent with him by appointment, 
not wasted by intrusion, when I found him, accord- 
ing to his own phrase, * picking up the threads ' of 
* Martin Chuzzlewit ' from the printed sheets of the 
half volume that lay before him. This accounts for 
the seeming incompleteness of some of his plots ; in 
others, the design was too strong and sure to be 
influenced by any outer consideration. He was only 
confirmed and invigorated by the growing applau se, 
and marched on, like a successful general, with each 
victory made easier by the preceding one. It seemed 
hardly to come within his nature to compose in 
solitary fashion, and wait the event of a whole work. 
No doubt, this resulted in part from his character as 
a journalist ; and so did his utter disdain of the shams 
which it is the express province of journalism to detect 
and expose. 

" His composition, easy as it seems in the reading — 
indeed, so natural, that it would be difficult to substi- 



354 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 

tute any truer word in any place — was, we are told, 
elaborate and slow. But, in his happier days, the 
process was by no means wearisome. It was the love 
of the idea, that could not let it go till he had nursed 
it to its utmost growth. In this he resembled many 
of the greatest humorists, whose enjoyment of their 
own fancies is evidenced by the impossibility of 
passing them into print while a single mirth-stirring 
thought or word could be added to make the picture 
perfect. The result was invaluable. With the excep- 
tion only of Shakspeare, among English writers of 
drama and fiction, no other author than Dickens 
yields so many sentences on each page of sterling 
value in themselves ; no other author can be read and 
re-read with such certainty of finding fresh pleasure 
on every perusal. Nowhere, with the one exception, 
does so much thought go to finish the production. 
It is jeweller's work, inlaying and enriching every 
part."* 



" THE CHIEF" — In his own immediate literary 
circle, and amongst those who were on the most 
familiar terms with him, the name " Mr. Dickens," 
or " Mr. Charles Dickens," or even " Charles," with 
his most intimate friends, was never heard. The 
respect felt for his genius — his superiority — took a 
more striking, although more familiar form. He was 

* Weekly Dispauh, June 1 8, 1870. 



ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 355 

invariably spoken of as "the Chief"! At All the 
Year Round office, the question was never, " Is Mr. 
Dickens in ?" but " Has the Chief arrived ?" « Is the 
Chief mV 



BL UE INK. — The present habit amongst literary 
men — especially amongst those formerly connected 
with Household Words ^ and more recently with All 
the Year Round — of using blue in preference to black 
ink, arose with Mr. Dickens. "The Chief" disHked 
the necessity of blotting his MS. in the progress of 
composition, and on finding that a certain make of 
blue ink dried almost immediately it left the pen, 
he invariably used that kind ever after ; and thus 
began the fashion for blue ink among London jour- 
nalists. 



DICKENS IN PRIVATE LIFE.— One who 
was intimately acquainted with him says : — " To 
those who never saw Dickens, and who ask whether 
he was like his works, we answer emphatically. 
Yes. When in congenial society, his humour was 
so abundant and overflowing, that the impression 
it gave the listener was that it would have been 
painful to check it ; while, in nobility and tenderness, 
in generous sympathy for all that is elevating and 
pure, in lofty scorn of the base, in hatred of the 
wrong, Dickens the author and Dickens the man was 

z 2 



356 



LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 



one. The stories of his goodness and generosity are 
endless. His was the common fate of having to bear 
the burdens of others as well as his own, and those 
who knew him under circumstances of trial unite in 
testifying to the open-handed justice of the man." 



"Never was human being more 'thorough.' His 
friendship was a fervent reality, and he spared no 
pains, and withheld no exertion, to save those whom 
he thought worthy, and to whom his countenance 
was valuable. The whole energy of his nature — and 
the passage in * David Copperfield,' in which the hero 
attributes whatever success he has acquired in this 
life to his faculty of devoting his whole strength and 
thoughts to the subject in hand, whatever it might 
be, precisely describes Charles Dickens himself — was 
given to the friend as readily and fully as to the 
day's work ; and it would be impossible to say more. 
Again, this kindly helpfulness was more valuable in 
Dickens than in most men, from his shrewd common 
sense, his worldly wisdom, his business habits, his 
intense regard for accuracy in detail. Whatever he 
said should be done, those who knew him regarded 
as accomplished. There was no forgetfulness, no 
procrastination, no excuse, when the time for granting 
a promised favour came."* 



* Daily Nem, June ii, 1870, 



ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 357 

SYMPATHY WITH WORKING MEN.— 
A friend, writing in the Observer^ says : — 

"He took a certain honest pride in receiving and 
returning the salutations of working people per- 
sonally unknown to him as he walked along the 
City's streets or the country roads, and he was 
greatly pleased by the reception at Christmas time 
of numberless small presents, generally of provisions, 
sent to him, " in honour of the season," by humble 
and anonymous admirers." 



A BEGGAR'S ESTIMATE OF HIS 
GENEROSITY.— Dickens has, like others in this 
world, been made to suffer every now and then 
for his good nature. High up on a list, taken 
from the pocket of a begging-letter writer, of 
persons easily induced to give money to those who 
pleaded distress, was found the name of " Charles 
Dickens!' in company with that of an equally kindly, 
but more wealthy, charitable person, Miss Burdett 
Coutts. His own account of how he has been 
victimized by the clever tales of systematic impos- 
tors has been told in his own inimitable way in 
Household Words, 



PARAGRAPH DISEASE.-^VJntingto a friend 
in Boston, Dickens said : — " I notice that about once 
in every seven years I become the victim of a para- 



358 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 

graph disease. It breaks out in England, travels to 
India by the Overland route, gets to America per 
Cunard line, strikes the base of the Rocky Mountains, 
and, rebounding back to Europe, mostly perishes on 
the steppes of Russia from inanition and extreme 
cold." 



DICKENS AND TH ACKER A K— Mr. Hodder 
tells us that " Thackeray did not keep copies of his 
own books. I was at his house when he had com- 
pleted the ' Newcomes,' and on looking at the book- 
shelves in his studio, I saw a newly-bound copy 
of that work, but neither * Vanity Fair,' 'Pendennis,' 
nor '■ Esmond.* I spoke of this strange want in his 
library ; for (said I) Charles Dickens has all his own 
works neatly bound in the order of publication." 
" Yes," answered Thackeray, " I know he has, and so 
ought I ; but fellows borrow them or steal them, and 
I try to keep them, and can't." 



*j^* " In the mere matter of literary style there 
is a very obvious difference. Mr. Thackeray, accord- 
ing to the general opinion, is the more terse and idio- 
matic, and Mr. Dickens the more diffuse and luxuriant 
writer. There is an Horatian strictness and strength 
in Thackeray which satisfies the more cultivated taste, 
and wins the respect of the severest critic ; but 
Dickens, if he is the more rapid and careless on the 



ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 359 

whole, seems more susceptible to passion, and rises 
to a keener and wilder song. Referring the diffe- 
rence of style to its origin in difference of intellectual 
constitution, critics are accustomed to say that 
Thackeray's is the mind of closer and harder, and 
Dickens's the mind of looser and richer, texture — 
that the intellect of the one is the more penetrating 
and reflective, and that of the other the more 
excursive and intuitive." — MaSSON'S British Novelists 
and their Styles. 



\* An anonymous writer says : — " The first time 
I heard Mr. Thackeray read in public, he paid a 
tribute to ' Boz.' It was the night after the Oxford 
election, in which Mr. Thackeray was an unsuccessful 
candidate, and the kind-hearted author hastened up 
to town to fulfil a promise to give some readings on 
behalf of Mr. Angus Reach.* I well remember the 
burst of laughter and applause which greeted the 
opening words of his reading. * Walking yesterday 
down the streets of an ancient and well-known city, 
I , but here the allusion to Oxford was recog- 
nized, and he had to wait until the merriment it 
created had ceased. In alluding to Charles Dickens, 
Mr. Thackeray, after speaking with abhorrence of the 
impurity of the writings of Sterne, went on to say : — 

* The writer is here in error. The Lecture was not de- 
livered on behalf of Mr. Reach, but for the fund then being 
raised to the memory of the late Douglas Jerrold. 



36o LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 

'The foul satyr's eyes leer out of the leaves con- 
stantly ; the last words the famous author wrote 
were bad and wicked — the last lines the poor stricken 
wretch penned were for pity and pardon. I think of 
these past writers, and of one who lives amongst us 
now, and am grateful for the innocent laughter, and 
the sweet and unsullied pages, which the author of 
"David Copperfield" gives to my children.' The 
author of * David Copperfield ' was taken by surprise, 
and looked immensely hard at the ceiling, as if trying 
to persuade himself that he was unknown to the 
audience. On the same night I heard Thackeray 
read Hood's celebrated lines, * One more unfortunate,' 
&c." 



ANECDOTE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN,— 
Mr. Arthur Locker says that the following sad story 
was related to Mr. Dickens by the late Mr. Edwin 
Stanton, the famous Secretary of War in the United 
States Cabinet. On Good Friday, 1865, there was a 
Cabinet Council at Washington, and Mr Stanton 
chanced to enter the council chamber some time after 
the other members had assembled. As he entered he 
heard the President say, " Well, gentlemen, this is 
only amusement. I think we had better now turn to 
business.'" During the meeting he noticed that Mr. 
Lincoln was remarkably grave and sedate ; and that, 
instead of strolling about the room, as was his usual 
wont, dealing out droll remarks, he sat bolt upright 



ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 36X 

in his chair. On leaving the Council Mr. Stanton 
asked one of the other Ministers why the President's 
manner was so peculiar, and received the following 
explanation : — " When we assembled to-day, Mr. 
Lincoln said, ' Gentlemen, I dreamt a strange dream 
last night for the third time, and on each occasion 
something remarkable has followed upon it. After 
the first dream came the battle of Bull Run [Mr. 
Dickens could not remember the second event], and 
now the dream has come again. I dreamt that I was 
in a boat on a lake, drifting along without either oars 

or sails, when * At this moment you," said the 

Minister, addressing Mr. Stanton, " opened the door, 
whereupon the President checked himself, and said, 
* I think we had better turn to business.' So we have 
lost the conclusion of the dream." 

And it was lost for ever. The Council met at half- 
past two, and on the same evening President Lincoln 
lay dead, slain by the pistol-shot of Wilkes Booth. 



THE CONTRIBUTORS TO HOUSEHOLD 
WORDS. — The earliest contributor to Household 
Words may be said to have been Mrs. Gaskell, for, 
after the beautiful little introductory address by 
Charles Dickens, the new periodical opened with a 
fine story from her pen. Many of the small band of 
WTiters who had rallied round Mr. Dickens, and who 
formed what may be called the staff of the journal, 
were comparatively unknown ; some were altogether 



362 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 

novices, whom Mr. Dickens's quick discernment of 
talent had marked out as useful collaborateiirs. 
More than one young writer, whose name has since 
become familiar to the public, made his debut here. 
One of the first contributors was Mr. W. H. Wills, 
who had been editor of Chambers' s Journal, and who, 
for years, acted as Mr. Dickens's working editor, and 
confidential secretary. Besides the contributors 
enumerated on p. 196, there were Mr. R. H. Home, 
the author of "Orion," Douglas Jerrold, and Mr. 
James Hannay, who wrote most of the sea-sketches. 
Mr. Sala's " Key of the Street," published here, was, 
we believe, his first appearance as a magazine writer. 
Among other regular contributors may be mentioned 
Percy Fitzgerald, Wilkie and Charles Collins, Sidney 
Blanchard, Mrs. Gaskell, Walter Thornbury, Mrs. 
Linton, Robert Brough, Miss Amelia Edwards, Mr. 
J. C. Parkinson, Blanchard Jerrold, W. Allingham. 
The names of all the contributors to the journal, 
however, would occupy more space than we have at 
command. 



" THE MYSTER Y OF ED WIN DROOD:*-^ 
Concerning the completion of this, Messrs. Chapman 
and Hall, the publishers, have addressed the following 
letter to the Times : — 

" Sir, — We find that erroneous reports are in circulation 
respecting * The Mystery of Edwin Drood,* the novel on which 



ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES, 363 

Mr. Dickens was at work when he died. It has been sug- 
gested that the tale is to be finished by other hands. We hope 
you will allow us to state in your columns that Mr. Dickens 
has left three numbers complete, in addition to those already 
published, this being one-half of the story as it was intended to 
be written. These numbers will be published, and the fragment 
will so remain. No other writer could be permitted by us to 
complete the work which Mr. Dickens has left." 

\* A letter had been sent to Mr. Dickens relative 
to a figure of speech in Chapter X. of " Edwin 
Drood," which figure of speech, the writer stated, had 
been taken from the description of the sufferings of 
our Saviour, as given in the New Testament, and 
applied in a way to wound the feelings of Christian 
readers. The author of " Edwin Drood" wrote the 
following reply the day preceding his death. It has 
already been published as "his last words";— 

"Dear Sir, — It would be quite inconceivable to 
me — but for your letter — that any reasonable reader 
could possibly attach a scriptural reference to a pas- 
sage in a book of mine, reproducing a much-abused 
social figure of speech, impressed into all sorts of 
service, on all sorts of inappropriate occasions, without 
the faintest connection of it with its original source. 
I am truly shocked to find that any reader can make 
the mistake. I have always striven in my writings to 
express veneration for the life and lessons of our 
Saviour ; because I feel it ; and because I re-wrote 
that history for my children — every one of whom 



364 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 

knew it from having it repeated to them, long before 
they could read, and almost as soon as they could 
speak. But I have never made proclamation of this 
from the house-tops. 

" Faithfully yours, 

"Charles Dickens." 

*** It has been remarked that the concluding 
words of the last number of " Edwin Drood,"* 

" Comes to an end— for the time" 

have a mournful significance, when read in the light 
of after events. 

But, it may be mentioned, that " Edwin Drood" 
is also having an independent issue •]- in America ; 
and it is somewhat remarkable that the last words 
in the part issued there should likewise have an 
almost prophetic meaning : — 

*' There, there ! there ! Get to bed, poor man, and 
cease to jabber ! With that he extinguished his 
light, pulled up the bed-clothes around him, and with 
another sigh shut out the world" 

*5if* Relative to the sketch ' of opium-smoking 
which occurs in " Edwin Drood," Sir John Bowring 
has written to the Daily News : — " Connected with 
the name and history of Charles Dickens, and 
illustrative of his habits of observation, it may not 

* June I, 1870. 

t Every Saturday, ]unQ 9, 1870. 



ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 365 

be amiss to record that on the publication of 
' Edwin Drood's Mystery/ I wrote to him ex- 
plaining what appeared to me an inaccuracy in his 
description and picture of opium-smoking, and sent 
to him an original Chinese sketch of the form of the 
pipe and the manner of its employment in China. 
Expressing much gratification with my communica- 
tion, he informed me that before he wrote the 
chapter he had personally visited the eastern districts 
of London, in the neighbourhood of the docks, and 
had only recorded what he had himself seen in that 
locality. No doubt that the Chinaman whom he 
described had accommodated himself to English 
usage, and that our great and faithful dramatist here 
as elsewhere most correctly portrayed a piece of 
actual life." 



GAD'S HILL HOUSE,--A.t has been suggested 
that Charles Dickens's favourite abiding place should 
be purchased by a general subscription and kept as 
a national memento of the author. It is further 
suggested that the house should be retained by Mr. 
Dickens's family for a term, to be named by them- 
selves, at the expiration of which, with their consent, 
the place should merge in trustees. Dickens passed 
the morning and afternoon of his last day on earth 
in the chalet presented to him by a few Swiss 
admirers two years since, which is erected in the 
shrubbery opposite his residence, and approached by 



366 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 

a tunnel underneath the turnpike road. This chalet, 
embosomed in the foliage of some very fine trees, 
stands upon an eminence commanding a magnificent 
view of the mouth of the Thames, and the opposite 
coast of Essex, It was a favourite retreat of 
Dickens. 

''ALL THE YEAR ROUNDr—The following 
gracefully written circular as to the future manage- 
ment of All the Year Round has been issued by Mr. 
Charles Dickens, jun. It gives readers good earnest 
of the talent which will, in future, assist and direct 
this favourite periodical : — 

It was my father's wish, expressed in writing only a week 
before his death, that I, his eldest son, and latterly his assistant 
editor, should succeed him in the management of the journal so 
long associated with his name. In accordance with this clearly- 
expressed desire, and strong in the hope inspired by so encour- 
aging a mark of his confidence, I address myself to the fulfilment 
of the task which he appointed me to discharge. It is intended 
that the management of All the Tear Round, in the future, shall 
be based on precisely the same principles as those on which it 
has, up to this time, been conducted. The same authors who 
have contributed to its columns in time past, will contribute to 
them still. The same spirit which has in the past pervaded its 
pages will, so far as conscientious endeavour may render it pos- 
sible, pervade them still. The same earnest desire to advocate 
what is right and true, and to oppose what is false and unworthy, 
which was the guiding principle of my father's career, and 
which has always characterized his management of All the Tear 
Round, will, I most earnestly hope, continue to be apparent in 



ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 367 

its every word. So much, then, being the same, it may not be 
presumptuous in me to hope that the same readers with whom 
this journal, and that which preceded it, found favour for so 
many years, may still care to see the familiar title-page on their 
tables as of old. With this brief explanation of the course 
I propose to adopt, and omitting all reference whatever to my 
own personal feelings in connection with the great sorrow which 
has rendered this statement necessary, I leave the future journal 
to speak for itself. *' It is better that every kind of work, 
honestly undertaken and discharged, should speak for itself than 
be spoken for." These were the words with which my father 
inaugurated the New Series of All the Tear Round. I cannot 
surely do better than repeat them in this place. 

Charles Dickens, Junr. 



THE END. 




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Iw. 



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it with considerable relish. It is so droll, so entirely new, that it cannot fail to amuse. 

5. Illustrated Edition of' THAT HEATHEN CHINEE, and 

Poems. By Bret Haete. With " That Heathen Chinee " set to 
Music by Stephen Tucker, Author of " Beautiful Isle of the Sea." 
Cloth, very neat, 3s. 6d. 
*^* These are the Illustrations which have so tickled our American cousins. There's 
a sort of " kick-up-your-heels '" delight about them. In a word, they're immense ! 

6. EAST AND WEST. The New Volnme oTVerse. By 
Beet Haete, Author of "That Heathen Chinee." Cloth, very 
neat, 2s. 6d. ; or in paper, is. 6d. 

*^* Readers who found pleasure in reading this Author's first hooks will not be 
disappointed with this new work. 

Companion to Bret Haete's " Heathen Chinee." 

LITTLE BREECHES, and other Pieces, Descriptiue and 

Pathetic. By Col. John Hat. Cloth, neat, 2s, 6d. ; in paper, is. 6d. 
*** The dramatic fire and vigour of these PIKE COUNTY BALLADS will startle 
English readers. The last lines of the first ballad are simply terrific, — something entirely 
different from what any Eitglish author would dream of, much less put on paper. 

John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadllly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 



New Book on the London Parks. 

THE STORY OF THE LONDON PARKS. By Jacob Larwood. 

With numerous Illustrations, Coloured and Plain. Vol 
Hyde Park ; Vol. II., St. James's Park and the Green Park. 
i8s. the Two Volumes. 



I., 

Pnco 




•^* This is a new and most interesting work, giving a complete Sisiory of thest 
favourite out-of-door resorts, from the earliest period to the present time. The fashions, 
the promenades, the rides, the reviews, and other displays in the F arks, from the merry 
days of Charles II. down to the present airings in Sotten Hoto and drives " around 
the ring," are all fully given, together with the exploits of bold highwaymen and the 
duels ^ rival lovers, and other appellants to the Code of Honour. 

SKETCHES OF IRISH CHARACTER. By Mrs. S. C. Hall. 

With numerous Illustrations on Steel and Wood, by Daniel 
Maclise, E.A:, John Gilbert, W. Harvey, and G. Cruikshank. 
8vo, pp. 450, cloth, gilt edges, js. 6d. 
*^,* One of the most delightful of this favourite Author's works. As a picture of 
Irish domestic life it has no superior. 

" The Irish Sketches of this lady resemble Miss Mitford's beautiful English 
Sketches in ' Our Village,' but they are far more vigorous and picturesque 
and bright." — Blackwood's Magazine. 

DROLLS OF OLD~CORNWALL; or, Popular Romances of 

the West of-^England. Collected and Edited by Eobert Hunt, 
F.E.S. New Popular Edition, complete in one vol., with Illustra- 
tions by George Cruikshank. Price ys. 6d. 




*** " Mr. Hunt's charming book on the Drolls and Stories of the West Cf 
England." — Saturday Review. 

John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 



WORKS BY MARK TWAIN. 

Widely Knowx fob theib Fbesh and Demghtfui. Httmoite. 

1.— PLEASURE TRIP ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE. 

By Mark Twain. 500 pages, 2s. ; or in clotli, 3s. 

*^* Twain's Pleasfee Trip is also issued in two-vol. form under 
the title of 

%—"THE INNOCENTS ABROAD." By Mark Twain. 

THE VOYAGE OUT. Cloth, neat, fine toned paper, "Superior 
Edition," 3s. 6d. ; or in paper, is. 

3.— /"//£ NEW PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. By Mark Twain. 

THE VOYAGE HOME. Cloth, neat, fine toned paper, " Superior 

Edition," 3s. 6d;. ; or in paper, is. 
*** Headers who approved of this Author's quaint story of " The Jumping Frog," 
will be very well satisfied with the " New Pilgrim's Progress : " there has been no work 
like it issued here for years. 

4.— BURLESQUE "AUTOBIOGRAPHY," ''FIRST ME- 

DIMVAL ROMANCE," AND "ON CHILDREN.'' By Mark 
Twain. 6d. 




h.—THE JUMPING FROG, and other Humorous Sketches. 

By Mark Twain, is. 

" An inimitably fanny book." — Saturday Seview. 

6.— EYE-OPENERS. A volnine of immensely runny 
Sayings, and Stories that will bring a smile upon the gruffest 
countenance. By the celebrated Mark Twain. Cloth, neat, 2s. 6d. ; 
Cheap Paper Edition, is. 



7.— SCREAMERS. A Gathering of Delicious Bits and 
Short Stories, by the renowned Mark Twain. Cloth, neat, 2s. 6d. ; 
Cheap Paper Edition, is. 

John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, PiccADrLLT London. 



Very Important New Books. 



MA GICIAN'S WN BOOK. Containing Ample Instructions 
for Performance in Legerdemain, Cups and Balls, Eggs, 
Hats, Handkerchiefs, &c. By the Author of " The Secret Out." 
All from Actual Experience, and Edited by W. H. Ckemer, Jun., 
of Eegent Street. With 200 Illustrations, 45. 6d. 

THE SECRET OUT; or, One Thousand Tricks with Cards, 

and other Recreations ; xoith Entertaining Experiments in Draioing- 
Room or " White Magic." By the Author of the " Magician's Own 
Book." Edited by W. H. Cremer, Jun,, of Eegent Street. With 
300 Engravings. Crown 8vo, cloth, 4s. 6d. 




*** These JBooJcs are complete Cyclopcedias of Legerdemain. Tinder the title of 
" Le Magicien des Salons" the first has long been a standard Magic Book with all 
French and German Professors of the Art. The tricks are described so carrfully, 
with engravings to illustrate them, that anybody can easily learn how to perform them . 

ENTIRELY NEW GAMES. 

THE MERRY CIRCLE. A Book of New, Graceful, ajid 
Intellectual Games and Amusements. Edited by Mrs. Clara 
Bellew. Crown 8vo, numerous Illustrations, 4s. 6d. 
*** A new and capital book of household Amusements. These are in every way 

Intellectual Games, and will please both old and young. It is an excellent book to 

consult before going to an evening party. 

THE ART OF AMUSING. A Collection of Graceful Arts, 
Games, Tricks, Puzzles, and Charades, intended to amuse every- 
body, and enable all to amuse everybody else. By Frank Bellew 
With nearly 300 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 4s. 6d. 
*** One of the most entertaining handbooks for amusement ever published. 



NOTICE. — Of the four hooks offered above, the first is the most Advanced 
in the Mysteries of White Magic. The second is a capital Beginner^ 
Book on the Wonderful Art of Conjuring. The third work, " The Merry 
Circle," is a hook of an Advanced Character in Family Amusements, 
cmd requires considerable judgment on the poA-t of the players. The 
last work is a capital introductory book to the Art of Amu,sing 
generally. 

John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 



WOEIS OF T HE LATE ARTE MUS WAED. 

New Edition, price i«. ; by post i«. 2d. 

ARTEMUS WARD : HIS BOOK. The Author's Enlarged 

Edition. "With Notes and Introduction by the Editor of the "Biglow 
Papers." One of the v?ittiest, and certainly one of the most mirth-provok- 
ing, books published for many years. Contaioing the whole of the Original, 
with the following extra chapters : — Babes in the Wood ; Tavern Accom- 
modation, Betsy- Jain-Re-Orgunized ; A. Ward's First IJmbreUa ; Brig- 
ham Young's Wives ; Artemus Ward's Brother ; Mormon Bill of Fare. 
NOTICE. — Mr. Hotten's EditioH is the only one published in this country ■with the 
sanction of the Author. 

The Saturday Beview says of Mr. Hotten's edition : " The author combines the powers of 
Thackeray with those of Albert Smith. The salt is rubbed in by a native hand— one which 
has the gift of tickling." 

" We never, not even in the pages of our best humorists, read anything so laughable and so 
shrewd as we have seen in this book by the mirthful Artemus."— Pu6?ic Opinion. 

ARTEMUS WARD: His Travels Among the Mormons 

and on the 'Rampage. Edited by E. P. Hiitgsxon, the Agent and Companion 
of A. Wabd whilst "on the Eampage." New Edition, price is. 
•** Some of Artemus' s most mirth-provoking papers are to be found in this book. The 

chapters upon the Mormons will unbend the sternest countenance. As bits of fun they 

are immense ! 

ARTEMUS WARD AMONG THE FENIANS: with ths 

Shopman's Experiences of Life at Washington, and Military Ardour at Baldins- 
ville. Toned paper, price 6d. ; by post, ^d. 

ARTEMUS WARD'S LECTURE AT THE EGYPTIAN HALL, 

with the Panorama. Edited by the late T. W. Robeetsoh- (Author of 

"Caste," "Ours," "Society," &c.) and E. P. Hikgstoit. Small 4to, 

exquisitely printed, bound in green and gold, with numbbous Tinted Illcb- 

TBATiONS, price 6«. 

"Mr. Hotten has conceived the happy idea of printing Artemus Ward's 'Lecture' in such a 

■way as to afford the reader an accurate notion of the emphasis, by-play, &c., with which it was 

delivered. We have no hesitation in saying that Mr. Hotten has almost restored the great 

humourist to the flesh."- Da!7j/ Telegraph. 

" The tomahawk feU from our hands as we roared with laughter— the pipe of peace slipped 
from between our lips as our eyes filled with tears ! Laughter for Artemus's wit— tears for his 
untimely death ! This book is a record of both. Those who never saw Artemus in the flesh, 
let them read of him in the spirit." — Tomahaick. 

" It actually reproduces Ward's Lecture, which was brimful of first-class wit and humour." — 
Daily Netcs. 
" It keeps you in fits of laughter."— ieoder. 

"One of the choice and curious volumes for the issue of which Mr. Hotten has become famous." 
~-City Press. 
" The Lecture is not alone droU : it is full of information."— iiamirwr. 
"It adds one to our books of genuine f\m."— Sunday Times. 

i2mo, 200 pages, is. 6d. ; or cloth, neat, 2s. 

ARTEMUS WARD IN LONDON. Comprising the Letters 

to "Punch," and other Humorous Papers, now first collected. 
*** Contains some quaint and humorous compositions tohich were found upon the 
futhor's table after his decease. 

ARTEMUS WARD, Complete. The Works of Chaeles 

Fabeee Beowne, better known as "Aetemfs Waed," now first collected. 
Crown 8vo, with fine Portrait, facsimile of handwriting, &c., 540 pages, 
cloth neat, 7s. 6d. 
*** Comprises all that the humourist. *as written in England or America. Admiren 
of poor Artemus Ward will he glad to possess his writings in a complete form. 

John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 



FLAGELLATION and the FLAGELLANTS; A History of the 

Eod in all Countries, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, 
By the Eev. William Coopek, B.A. With numerous niustra- 
tidns. Thick crown 8vo, 12s. 6d. 



THE ROD 

IN 

The Chitbch, 

CoifVEirT, 
monastbet, 

Peisoit, 

Aemy, Navt, 

Im" Public 

AKD 

Is Peitate. 




THE BIRCH 

IN- 

The Family, 

Ladies' Seminabies, 

Boys' Schools, 

Colleges, 

The Boudoib, 

Ancient and Modem. 



*** " A very remarkable, and certainly a very readable volume. Those who 
care for quaint stories of the birch mil find much matter for reflection, and not 
a httle amusement, in Mr. Cooper's ' Flagellation' 'Book."— Daily Telegraph. 

The ENGLISHMAN'S HOUSE, from a Cottage to a Mansion. 

A Practical Guide to Members of Building Societies, and all inte- 
rested in Selecting or Building a House. By C. J. Eichardson, 
Architect, Author of " Old English Mansions," &c. Second Edition, 
Corrected and Enlarged, with nearly 600 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 
550 pages, cloth, 7s. 6d. 



*^,* This Work might 
not inappropriately be 
termed "A Booh of 
Houses." It gives every 
variety of house, from a 
workman's cottage to a 
nobleman's palace. The 
hook is intended to supply 
a want long felt, viz., a 
plain non-technical ac- 
count of every style of 
house, with the cost and 
manner of building. 




John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 



RUSKIN AND CRUIKSHANK. ''German Popular Stories. " 

Collected by the Brothers Grimm. Translated by Edgar Taylor. 
Edited by John Euskin. With Twenty-two Illustrations after the 
inimitable designs of George Cruikshank. Both Series Com- 
plete. Cloth, 8vo, 6s, 6d. ; gilt leaves, 7s. 6d. 
*^,* These are the designs which Mr. JRuskin has praised so highly, placing them far 
above all Crziikshank's other works of a similar character. So rare had the original 
book (published in 1823-1826^ become, that £$ to £6 per copy was an ordinary price. 

''FAMILY FAIRY TALES;" or, Glimpses of Elfland~at 

Heatherston Hall. Edited by Cholmondeley Pennell, Author 
of " Puck on Pegasus," &c. Adorned with beautiful Pictures of " My 
Lord Lion," " King IJggermugger," and other Great Folks. Hand- 
somely printed on toned paper, in cloth, green and gold, price 4s. 6d. 
plain, 5s. 6d. coloured, 
*^* Thts charming volume has been universally praised by the critical press. 

SCHOOL LIFE AT WINCHESTER COLLEGE; or, The 

Reminiscences of a Winchester Junior. By the Author of " The 
Log of the Water Lily," and '' The Water Lily on the Danube." 
Second Edition, Revised, Coloured Plates, 7s. 6d. 




*** This look does for Winchester what " Tom Bro wn's School Days" did for Sughy . 

PRINCE UBBELY BUBBLE'S NEW^TORY BOOK. The 

Dragon all Covered with' Spilces ; The Long-tailed Nag ; The Three 
One-legged Men; The Old Fly and the Young Fly; Tom and the 
Ogre; and many other Tales. By J. Templeton Lucas. With 
numerous Illustrations by Matt Morgan, Barnes, Gordon 
Thompson, Brunton, and other Artists. In small 4to, green 
and gold, 4s. 6d. ; gilt leaves, 5s. 6d. 
*^* The Times devoted a special column in praise of this New Story Booh. 

MADGE AND THE FAIRY CONTENT A charming Child's 

story. By Blanchard Jerrold. Intended to inculcate a spirit 
of Contentment. With nearly 100 Pictures of the Industry requisite 
to produce the Christmas Pudding. 4s. 6d. 

LITTLE CHARLIE'S LIFE OF HIMSELF Edited by the 

Eev. W. K. Clark, M.A., Vicar of Taunton. 4to, cloth, fuU of 
curious Illustrations, 3s. 6d. 
*** A most amusing Present for a child. It is an exact faetimile of the autobiography 
tfa boy between six and seven years of age, as written by himself in hi* co py-book. 

John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Wery Important New Books. 




GUSTAVE DORjfe'S MOST CHARACTERISTIC WORKS. 
RABELAIS. Faithfully trans- 
lated from the French, with variorum 
Notes, and numerous characteristic 
Illustrations by Gust AVE Dore. 
Cloth neat, 600 pages. Price 7s. 6d. 

*** When it is stated that this is a "faithful 
translation," scholars loill know what is meant. 
The 60 full-page Illustrations are in the Artist's 
best and most fantastic manner. 

COQKAYNES IN PARIS, The; 

, or, an English Family Abroad. By 

Blanchard Jebrold. With most 

AMUSING thumb-nail Sketches of the 

English by Gustave Dore, taken 

on the Rail, the Steam-boat, and the 

Pavement. Price ys. 6d. 

*** Eeturned tourists who would like to see themselves from a French point of view, 
will he greatly diverted with this new travel-book. The pictures are very droll, 
and give the exact notions of foreigners concerning us. One of these notions is that all 
JEnglish ladies and gentlemen breathe through their mouths instead of through their 
noses, hence our mouths are always open, our teeth protrude, and we are continually on 
the grin. Some of their caricatures of our weaknesses are not wholly devoid of trtith. 

COUNTRY OF THE DWARFS, The. By Paul Du Chaillu. 

New Book of Hair -breadth Escapes. Eeveals a New World to the 
reader, is. in paper ; 3s, 6d. in cloth. Full-page Illustrations. 

Hotten's Edition of ''CONTES DROLATIQUES" {Droll 

Tales collected from the Abbeys of Lorraine), par Balzac. With 
425 Marvellous, Extravagant, and •Fantastic Woodcuts by Dore. 
Beautifully printed, thick 8vo, half morocco, Roxburghe. 12s. 6d. 
*^,* The most singular designs ever attempted by any artist. So crammed is the hook 

with pictures that even the contents are adorned with thirty-three illustrations. 

DiHBCT application must be made to Mr. Hotten for this work. 

Gustave Dore's Favourite Pencil Sketches. 

HISTORICAL CARTOONS; or, Rough Pencillings of the 

World's History from the First to the Nineteenth Century. By Gus- 
tave Dore. With admirable letterpress descriptions by Thomas 
Wright, F.S.A. Oblong 4to, handsome Table Book. Price 7s. 6d. 



*** This is a 
new book of dar- 
ing and inimit- 
able designs, 
which will ex- 
cite considerable 
attention, and 
doubtless com- 
mcmd a very 
wide circulation. 




John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 



THE COLLECTOR; Essays on Books, Newspapers, 

Pictures, Inns, Authors, Doctors, Holidays, Actors, Preachers. By 
Henbt T. Tuckeeman ; with an Introduction by Dr. Doean. 
Half morocco, 6s. 
*** A charming volume of delightful JEssays, and a Companion to John Sill 
Burton's "Book-Hunter." 

LITERARY COPYRIGHT. Seven Letters addressed by 

permission to Earl Stanhope, D.C.L., F.R.S. By John CAJkCDEN 
HoTTEN. Price 5s. 

" A sensible and valuable little hook."— Athsn/Bum. 

"We agree with Mr. Hotten." — Saturday Review. 

OLD DRAMATISTS— NEW EDITIONS. 

MARLOWE'S {Christopher) WORKS; Including his 

Translations. Edited, with Notes and Introduction, by Lieut. Col. 
F. Cunningham. Cr. 8vo, Portrait, cloth, 4s. 6d. ; cloth gilt, 5s. 

MASSINGER'S {Philip) PLAYS. From the Text of Wm. 

GiFFOED. With the addition of the Tragedy of " Believe as You 
List." Edited by Lieut. Col. Feancis CuNNiNaHAM. Crown 8vo, 
Portrait. Cloth, 4s. 6d. ; cloth gilt, 5s. 

BEN JONSON'S WORKS. With Notes, Critical and Ex- 
planatory, and a Biographical Memoir by William GrFFOSD. 
Edited by Lieut. Col. Feancis Cunningham. Complete in 3 vols., 
crown 8vo, Portrait, cloth, 4s. 6d. each ; cloth gilt, 5s. each. 

LIFE AND NEWLY-DISCOVERED WRITINGS OF DANIEL 

DEFOE. Comprising Several Hundred Important Essays, Pamphlets, 
and other Writings, now first brought to light, after many years' dili- 
gent search. By William Lee, Esq. With Facsimiles and Illustra- 
tions. 3 v'ols., uniform with" Macaulay's History of England." 36s. 

A Veet Useful Book. — In folio, half morocco, cloth sides. 7s. 6d. 

LITERARY SCRAPS, CUTTINGS from NEWSPAPERS, 

EXTRACTS, MISCELLANEA, Sfc. A Folio Sceap-Book of 340 
Columns, formed for the reception of Cuttings, &c., with guards. 
*** A most useful volume, and one of tJie cheapest ever told. 

THE ROSICRUCIANS ; their Rites and Mysteries. 

With Chapters on the Ancient Fire and Serpent Worshippers, and 
Explanations of the Mystic Symbols represented in the Monu- 
ments and Talismans of the Primeval Philosophers. By Hab- 
GEAVE Jennings, ids. 6d. 
*^* A volume of startling facts and opinions upon this very mysterious svhjeet, Vius- 
trated by nearly 300 engravings. 

" Curious as many of Mr. Hotten's works have been, tbe volume now under 
notice is, among tbem all, perhaps the most remarkable. The work purports 
to describe the Bites and Mysteries of the Rosicrucians. It dilates on the an- 
cient Fire and Serpent 'Worshippers. The Author has certainly devoted an 
enormous amount of labour to these memorials of the Rosb-Cboss — otherwise 
the Rosicrucians." — The Sun. 

JoaN Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadillt, London. 



Very Important New Books. 




HOGARTH'S FIVE DAYS' 

Frolic; or, "Peregrinations 
hy Land and Water." Illus- 
trated with Tinted Draw- 
ings, made by Hogarth and 
Scott during the Journey. 4to, 
beautifully printed, los. 6d. 
*:^* A graphic and most extraordinary 

picture of the hearty English times in 

which these merry artists lived. 

ACROSTICS, in Prose and 

Verse. Edited by A. E. H. 
i2mo, gilt cloth, ^t edges, 3s. 

Second Series, cloth gilt, 3s. 

Third Series, cloth gilt, 3s. 

Fourth Series. With 8 Pictorial Acrostics. Cloth gilt, 3s. 

Fifth Series. An entirely New and Original Work. Cloth 

elegant, 4s. 6d. 

Supplement, under the title of " Easy Double, Historical, and 

Scriptural Acrostics." Cloth gilt, 3s. 
*^,* Each series sold separately. These are the best volumes of Acrostics ever issued. 
They comprise Single, Double, Treble, and every variety of acrostic, and the set would 
amuse the younger members of a family for an entire winter. 

The Five Series Complete in a Case, " The Acrostic Box," price 15s. 

WONDERFUL CHARACTERS: Memoirs and Anecdotes 

of Rema/rhable and Eccentric Persons of Every Age and Nation. 
From the text of Henry Wilson and James Caulfield. 8vo, 
with Sixty-one pull-page Engravings of Extraordinary 
Persons, price 7s. 6d. 




*** There are so many curious matters discussed in this volume, thai any person who 
takes it up will not readily lay it down. The introduction is almost entirely devoted to 
a consideration of Pig-Faced Ladies, and the various stories concerning them. 

John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 



AN EPIC OF WOMEN, and other Poems. By Arthur 

W. E. O'Shatjghnessy. With Original Designs by Mr. J. T. 
Nettleship. Cloth, neat, price 6s. 
"What he has given us is remarkable. With its quaint title, and quaint 
illustrations, ' Aw Epic of WoiiEif ' will he a rich treat to a wide circle of 
admirers." — Athencsum, Nov. 5, 1870. 

"Combine Morris and Swinburne, and inspire the product vnth a fervour 
essentially original, and you have, as we take it, a fair notion of Mr. O'Shaugh- 
nessy's poems." — IDispatch, Oct. 30, 1870. 

ANACREON. Illustrated by the Exquisite Designs of 
GiRODET. Translated by Thomas Mooke. Bound in vellum cloth 
and Etruscan gold, 12s. 6d. 




*** A MOST JBHAUTIFUJL AND CAPTIVATING VOLUME. The well- 
Known Faris house, Firmin Didot, a few years since produced a miniature edition of 
these exquisite designs by the photographic process, and sold a large number at £2 per 
copy. The designs have been universally admired by both artists and poets. 

ECHOES FROM THE FRENCH POETS. An Anthology 

from Baudelaire, Alfred de Musset, Lamartine, Victor 
Hugo, A. Chenier, T. Gautier, Beranger, Nadaud, Dupont, 
Paritt, and others. By Harry Curwen. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, ss- ; 
half -morocco, 6s. 
"A pleasant httle volume of translations from modem French poets."— 
Graphic, Aug. 20, 1870. 

FA/R ROSAMOND, and other Poems. By B. Mont- 

GOMERiE Banking (of the Inner Temple). Fcap. 8vo, price 6s. 
John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 



CHARLES DICKENS— The Story of his Life. By the 

Author of "The Life of Thackeray." Price js. 6d., with nume- 
rous Portraits and Illustrations, 370 pp. 

" Anecdotes eeem to have 
poured in upon the author 
from all quarters. . , Turn 
vrhere;we will through these 
370 pleasant pages, some- 
thing worth reading is sure 
to meet the eye." — The Stan- 
dard. 



Dicfiens's Life : An- 

other Edition, without 
Illustrations, uniform 
with the "Charles 
Dickens Edition," 
and forming a Supple- 
mentary Volume to 
that favourite issue, 
crimson cloth, 3s. 6d. 




Dickens's Summer Hoitss. 



Dicfiens's Life. — Cheap Popular Edition, in paper, 2s. 



PICKENS'S SPEECHES, Literary and SociaL— Now ^rst 

collected. With Chapters on " Charles Dickens as a Letter Writer, 
Poet, and Public Eeader." Price 7s. 6d., with Fine Portrait by 



Count D'Orsat, 370 pages. 




*** "His capital speeches. Everyone 
of them reads hke a page of ' Pickwick.' " 
— TAe Critic. 

" His speeches are as good as any of his 
printed writings." — The Times. 

Dickens's Speeches. — Uniform 

with the " Charles Dickens Edi- 
tion," and forming a Supplement- 
ary Volume to that favourite issue, 
crimson cloth, 3s. 6d. 

Dickens's Speeches. — Cheap 

Edition, without Portrait, in paper 
wrapper, 2s. 



HUNTED DOWN. A Story by Charles Dickens. With 

some Account of Wainewright, the Poisoner. Price 6d. 
*^* A powerful and intensely thrilling story, now first printed in book-form in 
this country. 

John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 



For Gold and Silversmiths. 

PRIVATE BOOK OF USEFUL ALLOYS AND MEMORANDA 

for GOLDSMITHS and JEWELLERS. By James E. Collins, C.E., 
of Birmingham. Royal i6mo, 3s. 6d. 
*^* The secrets of the Gold and Silversmiths' Art are here given, for the hen^t of 
young Apprentices and FractitioTiers. It is an invaluable book to the Trade. 

THE STANDARD WORK ON DIAMONDS AND PRECIOUS 

STONES : their History, Value, and Properties ; with Simple Tests 
for ascertaining their Reality. By Haert EmA-NUEL, F.R.G.S, 
With nximerous Illustrations, tinted and plain. New Edition. 
Prices brought down to the present time, full gilt, 6s. 






'Will be acceptable to many readers." — Times' review of three columns. 
•' An invaluable work for buyers and sellers." — Spectator. 
*:),* This Second Edition is greatly superior to the previous one. It gives the 
latest market value for Diamonds a7id Precious Stones of every size. 

GUNTER'S MODERN CONFECTIONER. The Best Book 

on Confectionery and Desserts. An Entirely New Edition of this 
Standard Work, adapted for Private Families or Large Establish- 
ments, By Willtam Jeanes, Chief Confectioner at Messrs. 
Gunter's, Berkeley Square. With Plates, 8vo, cloth, 6s. 6d. 

*' All housekeepers should have it." — Daily Telegraph. 

*** This work has won for itself the reputation of being the Standard English Booh 
on the preparation of all kinds of Confectionery, and on the arrangement of Dessertt. 

HOUSEKEEPER'S ASSISTANT. A Collection of the most 

valuable Recipes,, carefully written down for future use by Mrs. 

B , during her Forty Years' active Service. Cloth, price 2s. 6d. 

*:^* As much as two guirieas have been paid for a copy of this invaluable little work. 

THE YOUNG BOTANIST: A Popular Guide to Elemen^ 

tary Botany. By T. S. Ralph, of the Linnaean Society. In i vol., 
with 300 Drawings from Nature, 2s. 6d. plain ; 4s. Coloured by hand. 
*^* An excellent book for the young beginner. The objects selected as illustrations 
are either easy of access as specimens of wild plants, or are common in gardens. 

CHAMPAGNE : its History, Manufacture, Properties, 

Sfc. By Charles Tovet, Author of " Wine and Wine Countries," 
"British and Foreign Spirits," &c., Cr. 8vo,numerous illustrationSjS^. 
*:^* A practical work, by one of the largest champagne merchajits in London. 

BRIGHAM'S (Dr. A.) MENTAL EXERTION :' Its In- 

fluence on Health. With Notes and Remarks on Dyspepsia of 
Literary Men. By Arthur Leared, M.D. 8vo, boar ds, is. 6d. 

John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 



NAPOLEON III., THE MAN OF HIS TIME: 

Part I. — The Story of the Life of Napoleon III., as told by 

Jas. W. Haswell. 
Part II.— The Same Story, as told by the Popular Caricatures 

of t" 1 t T ■ Y I. 



t 



^%tM. 




*** The object of this WorJc is to give Both Sides of ihe Siory. The Artist has gone 
over the entire ground of Continental and English Caricatures for the last third of a 
century, and a very interesting book is the result. 

CRUTKSHANK'S~G0MI0 almanack, a Nineteen Years' 
gathering of the Best Humour, the Wittiest Sayings, the 
Drollest Quips, and the Best Things of Thackeray, Hood, May- 
hew, Albert Smith, A'Beckett, Egbert Brough, 1835-1853. 
With nearly Two Thousand Woodcuts and Steel Engravings by 
the inimitable Cruiksh&nk, Hine, Landells, &c. Two SeHes, 

Crown 8vo, 
each of 600 
pages, price 
js. 6d. each. 
*.^* A most ex- 
traordinary ga- 
thering of the 
lest wit and 
humour of the 
past half- cen- 
tury. Readers 
can purchase one 
Series and judge 
for themselves. 
The work forms 
a "Comic His- 
tory of JEng- 
and" for twenty 
years. 




John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 



Original Edition of the Famous JOE MILLER'S JESTS; 

the politest Repartees, most elegant Bon-Mots, and most pleasing 

short Stories in the English Language. London : printed by T. 

Read, 1739. Een^arkable facsimile. 8vo, half morocco, price 9s. 6d. 

** ONLY A VERY FEW COPIES OF THIS HUMOROUS AND RACY 

OLD BOOK SAVE BEEN REPRODUCED. 

HISTORY OF PLAYING CARDS. With Sixty curious lU^ 

trations, 550 pp., price 7s. 6d. 

" A highly interesflng volume." — Morning Post. 



AiTECDOTES, Ancient 
AS-D MoDEEW Games, 

CONJUEING, FOETtrWE- 
TeLLING AMD CaED- 

Shaeping, Skill and 
Sleight op Hand, 
Gambling and Cal- 
culation, Caetomancy 




AND Cheating, Old 
Games and Gaming- 
houses, Cabd Revels 
AND Blind Hooket, 

PiCQXJBT AND ViNGT- 

ET-uN, "Whist and 
Ceibbage, Old-Fash- 

lONED TeICKS. 



SLANG DICTIONARY; or, The Vulgar Words, Street 

Phrases, and " Fast " Expressions of High and Low Society ; many 
with their Etymology, and a few with their History traced. With 
cuKious Illustbations. a New Dictionary of Colloquial English. 
Pp. 328, in Bvo, price 6s. 6d. 

" It may bo 

doubted if there 

exists a more 

amusing volua.e 

in the Enghsh 

language." — Spec- 
tator. 
"Valuable as a 

workof reference." 

— Saturday Review. 







See Two tjpon Tbk, in amusement and in 
the Dictionary, ^.2^ Btruction iu its 
' pages." — Times. 



JigypiioM Sieroglyphie verh 
to be drunk, thowing the ampu- 
tation of a man's leg. bee 
,, 4 1, r f under Bbbakt Lbg (vii. 

Bociety wiU find ary.v.8U 



CAPTAIN GROSE'S DICTIONARY of the VULGAR TONGUE, 

1785. A genuine unmutilated Reprint of the First Edition. Price 8s. 
*^* Only a small number of copies of this very vulgar, but very curious, boot have 
been printed for the Collectors of" Street Words" and Colloquialisms, on fine toned 
paper, half-bound morocco, gilt top. 

John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 



THE NEW "PUNIANA" SERIES OF 

CHOICE ILLUSTRATED WORKS of HUMOUR. 

Elegantly printed on toned paper, full gilt, gilt edges, for the 
Draiving-Room, price 6s. each. 

1. CAROLS OF COCKAYNE. By 

Henry S. Leigh. Vers de Societe, 
and charming Verses descriptive of 
London Life. With numerous exqui- 
site little Designs by Alfred Con- 
CANEN and the late John Leech. 
Small 4to, elegant, uniform with " Pun- 



2, COUNTRY-HOUSE CHARADES, 

for Acting. By Capt. E. C. Nugent. 

With Illustrations by W. E. Snow. 

Small 4to, green and gold, 6s. 
♦^* An entirely new hook of Household Amuse- 
ments. An Appendix gives the various Songs set to 
Music for accompaniment upon the Pianoforte. 




" An awfully Jolly Book for Parties." 

3. PUNIANA: Thoughts Wise and Otherwise. Best 

Book of Riddles an^ Pirns ever formed. With nearly loo exquisitely 
fanciful Drawings. Contains nearly 3,000 of the best Riddles and 
10,000 most outrageous Puns, and is one of the most Popular Books 
ever issued. New Edition, uniform with the " Bab Ballads." Price 6s. 
Why did Du Chaillu get so angry when he was chaffed about the Gorilla ? — Why ? 
tee ask. 

Why is a chrysalis like a hoi roll ? — You will doubtless remark, " Because ifs the 
grub that makes the butter fly ! " But see " Funiana." 

Why is a wide-awake hat so called ? — Because it never had a nap, and never wants 
one. 

The Saturday Beview says of this most amusing work : — "Enormous burlesque 
— unapproachable and pre-eminent. We venture to think that this very queer 
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be good pohcy to invest in the book, and dole it out by instalments." 

New Society Book by the Author of "Puniana." 

4 GAMOSAGAI\/IIVION ; 

or. Advice to Parties 
about to Connuhialise. 
By the Hon. Hugh 
Rowley. With nume- 
rous exquisite and fan- 
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pencil. Small 4to, green 
and gold, 6s. 

*** The Quaintest, Funniest, 
most Original Book published 
for a long time. 

ToHN Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 




Very Important New Books. 



PIERCE EGAN'S ''FINISH" TO "LIFE IN AND OUT OF 

LONDON." Royal 8vo, cloth extra, with spirited Colouked 
Illustrations by Cruikshank, 21s. 

*** An extraordina/ry picture of " Londox bt Night" in the Days of George 
the Fourth. All the strange places of Amusement around Covent Garden and in St. 
James's are fully described, and very queer places they were too ! 

LIFE IN LONDON ; or, The Day and Night Scenes of 

Jerry Hawthorn and Corinthian Tom. Crown 8vo. Yv'ith the 

WHOLE OF CRTJIKSHANK'a VERT DrOLL ILLUSTRATIONS, IN 

Colours, AFXJiii, the Originals. Cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 




Tom Airo Jbesy Taking a Stbom. 
*** One of the most popular books ever issued. It tc9s an immense favourite with 
George IV., and as a picture of London life fifty years ago was often quoted by 
Thackeray, who devotes one of his "Roundabout Papers" to a description of it. Clean 
Second-hand copies of this work always realize from £i to £2. 

I/YNER'S NOTITIA VENATIGA : A Treatise on Fox- 

Hunting, the General Management of Hounds, and the^ Diseases of 
Bogs ; Distemper and Rabies ; Kennel Lameness, Sfc. Sixth Edition, 
Enlarged. By Egbert C. Vyner, Esq. , of Eathorpe Hall, War- 
wickshire. Royal 8yo. With spirited Illustrations in 
Colours, by Alken, of Memorable Fox-Hunting Scenes. 21s. 

*** An Entirely New Edition of the best work extant upon Fox-Hunting. 
"TOM SMITH." 

REMINISCENCES OF THE LATE THOMAS ASSHETON 

SMITH, Esq.; or, The Pursuits of an English Country Gentleman. 
By Sir John E. Eardley Wilmot, Bart. With Illustrations 
Coloured and Plain. New Edition, uniform with ISTimrod's 
" Chase, Turf, and Road." Price 7s. 6d. 

FINE OLD HUNTING BOOKS, with Coloured Plates. 

MB. JORBOCKS'S JAUNTS AND JOLLITIES. 
LIFE AND ADVENTUBES OF JACK MTTTON. 
ANALYSIS OF THE HUNTING FIELD. 
LIFE OF A SPOBTSMAN. By NIMBOD. 
Apply to Mr. Hotten direct/o?* these books. 



John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 



HISTORY OF CARICATURE AND THE GROTESQUE in 

Art, Literature, Sculpture, and Fainting, from the Earliest Tiines 
to the Present Day. By Thomas Weight, F.S. A. (Author of " A 
Caricature History of the Georges.") 4to, profusely illustrated by 

FaIRHOLT. 2IS. 
*** A valuable historical, and at the same time most entertaining work. The author's 
first idea was to call it a "History of Comic Literattire and Art in Great Britain." 
The illustrations are full of interest. 




GeOHGE in. WOKDEEUrs HOW THE ApPLES GOT InSIDE THE DlTMPLIirGS. 



CARJGATURE HISTORY OF THE GEORGES (House of 

Hanover J. Very Entertaining Book of 640 pages, with 400 Pic- 
tures, Caricatures, Squibs, Broadsides, Window Pictures. By T. 
Wright, F.S. A. 7s. ed. 

*^* .Companion Volume to "History of Signboards." Seviewed in almost every 
English journal with the highest approbation. 

" A set of caricatures such as we have in Mr. Wright's volume brings the 
surface of the age before us with a vividness that no prose writer, even of the 
highest power, could emulate. Macaulay's most brilliant sentence is weak by 
the side of the httle woodcut from Gillray, which gives us Burke and Fox." — 
Saturday Review. 

" A more amusing work of its kind was never issued."— ^r^ Journal. 

"It is emphatically one of the hvehest of books, as also one of the most 
interesting. It has the twofold merit of being at once amusing and edifying. 
The 600 odd pages which make up the goodly volume are doubly enhanced by 
some 400 illustrations, of which a dozen are full-page ones." — Morning Post. 

Large Paper Edition, 4to, only 100 printed, on extra fine paper, 
wide margins, for the lovers of choice books, with extra Portraits, half 
morocco (a capital book to illustrate), 30s. 

A Companion Table Book to " Leech's Sketches." 

MAIDEN HOURS AND MAIDEN WILES. Designed by 

"Beaujolais" (Captain Hans Busk). A Series of re- 
markably CLEVER Sketches, showing the Occupations of a 
Fashionable Young Lady at All Hours of the Day. With appro- 
> priate Text. Folio, half morocco, blue and gold, gilt edges, los. 6d. 

John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 




A Clever and Brilliant BboK, 

Companion to the "Son QauUier Ballads." 

PUCK ON PEGASUS. By 

H. C HOLMONDELET PeNNELL. 

In 4to, printed within an India-paper 

tone, and elegantly bound, gilt, gilt 

edges, price los. 6d. only. 

*** This most amusing work has already 
passed through Five Editions, receiving every- 
where the highest praise as " a clever and 
brilliant hook." To no other work of the 
present day have so many distinguished Ar- 
tists contributed Illustrations. To the designs 
of Geoege Ceuikshank, John Leech, 
Julian Poetch, " Phiz," and other Artists, 
Sir Noel Patoit, Millais, John Tbnnibl, 
RiCHAED DoTLE, and M. Ellen Edwaeds, 
have now contributed several exquisite pictures, 
thus making the New Edition — which is Ttcice 
the Size of the old one, and contains irresis- 
tibly funny pieces — the best book for the 
Drawing-room table now published. 



AUSTIN'S {Alfred) THE SEASON: A Satire. 

Elegantly bound for the Drawing-room, 5s 
*^* An entirely New Edition of this fam/ous Work, it having bee" out of 
print seven years. 

SIGNBOARDS: Their History. With Anecdotes of Famous 

Taverns and Bemarlcahle Characiers. By Jacob Larwood and 
John Camden Hotten. " A book which will delight all." — 
Spectator. Fourth Edition, 580 pp., price 7s. 6d. only. 




Fromthe "Times." 

" It is not fair 
on the part of a 
reviewer to pick 
out the plums 
of an author's 
book, thus filch- 
ing away his 
cream, and leav- 
ing little but 
skim - milk re- 
maining ; but, 
even if we were 
ever so maH- 
ciously inclined, 

BTTlt AlTD MOTJTH. 
*** Nearly 100 most curious illustrations on wood are given, showing the various 
old signs which were formerly hung from taverns and other houses. 

ROMANCE OF THE ROD : An Anecdotal History of the 

Birch, in Ancient and Modem Times. With some quaint Illustra- 
tions. Crown 8vo, handsomely printed. [In preparation 

-John Camden ^Potten, 74 and 75, Piccadlllt, London. 



From, the" Times." 

we could not in 
the present in- 
stance pick out 
aU Messrs. Lar- 
wood and Hot- 
ten's plums, be- 
cause the good 
things are so 
numerous as to 
defy the most 
wholesale depre- 
dation."— Becieic 
of three columns. 



Very Important New Books. 



THE FAMOUS "DOCTOR SYNTAX'S" THREE TOURS. 

One of the most amusing and Laughable Books ever published. 

With the whole of Eowlandson's very droll full-page 

Illustrations, in Colours, after the Original Drawings. 

Comprising the well-known Tours — 
I. In Search of the Picturesque. | 2. In Search of Consolation. 
3. In Search of a Wife. 
The Three Series Complete and Unabridged in One Handsome Volume 
with a Life of this industrious Author — ^the English Le Sage — now first 
written by John Camden Hotten. This Edition contains the whole 
of the original, hitherto sold for 31s. 6d., now published at 7s. 6d. only. 

Uniform with "Wonderful Characters." 

REMARKABLE TRIALS AND NOTORIOUS CHARACTERS. 

From "HaK-Hanged Smith," 1700, to Oxford who shot at the 
Queen, 1840. By Captain L. Benson. With spirited full-page 
Engravings by Phiz. 8vo, 550 pages, 7s. 6d. 




THE TRUE CONSOLER. 



*^* A Complete Library of Sematio)i Literature ! There are plots enough here 
to prodzice a hundred "exciting" Novels, and at least Jive hundred "powerful" 
Magazine Stories. The book will he appreciated by all readers whose taste lies in this 
direction. Fhiz's pictures are fully equal to those in "Master Humphrey's Clock." 

A Keepsake for Smokers. 

"THE SMOKER'S TEXT-BOOK." By J. Hamee, F.K.S.L. 

Exquisitely printed from " silver- 
faced " type, cloth, very neat, gilt 
edges, 2s. 6d., post free. 
"A pipe is a great comforter, a pleasant 
soother. The man who smokes, thinks 
like a sage, and acts like a Samaritan." 
— Bulwer. 

"A tiny volume, dedicated to the vota- 
ries of the weed ; beautifully printed on 
toned paper, in, we believe, the smallest 
type ever made (cast especially for show 
at the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park), 
but very clear, notwithstanding its mi- 
nuteness. . . . The pages sing, in various 
styles, the praises of tobacco. Amongst 
the writers laid under contribution are 
Bulwer, Kingsley, Charles Lamb, Thack- 
eray, Isaac Browne, Cowper, and Byron." 
—The Field. 



TTE who doth 



smoke hath either 
I gra»t griefs, or refuseth 
himself the softest consolation, next to 
that which comes from heaven "What, 
flofter than woman?' ' whispers the young 
reader Young reader, woman teaxes a« 
•weU 1 ' "' 

Boothe. Woman conaole; 



we are old and ugly, woman snubs and 
■cold* us On the whole, then, woman in 
thisBcale. the weed in that, Jupiter, hang 
out thy balance, and weigh them both ; 
ond if thou give the preference to woman 
all I can say is, the next time Juno ruffles 
thee— O Jupiter ! try the weed. 
BDLWKR'S " What wil he do with it?" 



John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75% Piccadilly, London, 



Very Important New Books. 



1 



ORIGINAL EDITION OF BLAKE'S WORKS. 

NOTICE. — Mr. Hotten has prepared a few Facsimile Copies Cexact 
. as to paper and printing — the water-colour drawings heing filled in hy an 
artist) of the Original Edition op Blake's " Marriage of Heayen 
AND Hell." 4to, price 30s,, half morocco. 

" Blake is a real name, I assure you, and a most extraordinary man he is, if 
he still be living. He is the Blake whose wild designs accompany a splendid 
edition of ' Blair's Grave.' He paints in water-colours marvellous strange pic- 
tures—visions of his brain— which he asserts he has seen. They have great 
merit. I must look upon him as one of the most extraordinary persons of the 
age." — Chaeles Lamb. 

EMERSON. The Uncollected Writings, Essays, and 

Lectwres of Ealph Waldo Emerson. With Introductory Preface 
by MoNCURE Conway. 2yo1s.,8vo. By Arrangement with Mr. Emeksoh-. 

INFELICIA. Poems by Adah Isaacs Menken. With 

NUMEROUS GRACEFUL DESIGNS ON WOOD. Dedicated, by per- 
mission, to Charles Dickens, with Photographic Facsimile of his 
Letter, and a Portrait of the Authoress. In green and gold, 55. 6d. 



" A pathetic little 
volume exquisitely 
got up." — Sun. 

" Few, if any, 
could have guessed 
the power and 
beauty of the 
thoughts that pos- 
sessed her soul, and 
found expression in 
language at once 
pure and melodi- 
ous." — Press. 

" There is a pas- 
sionate richness 
about many of the 
poems which is al- 
most startling." — 
Sunday Times. 

" What can we 
say of this gifted 
and wayward wo- 
man, the existence 




of whose better 
nature will be sug- 
gested for the first 
time to many by the 
posthumous d&clo- 
sure of this book? 
We do not envy the 
man who, reading 
it, has only a sneer 
for its writer; nor 
the woman who finds 
it in her heart to 
turn awaywith aver- 
ted face. ' '—NetD York 
Round Table. 

"An amusing lit- 
tle book, unhappUy 
posthumous, which 
a distinguished wo- 
man has left as a 
legacy to mankind 
and the age." — Sa- 
turday Eeview. 



Fcap. 8vo, 450 pages, with fine Portrait and Autograph, ys. 6d. 

WALT WHITMAN'S POEMS. (Leaves of Grass, Drum- 

Taps, Sfc.) Selected and Edited by William Michael Eossetti. 

" Whitman is a poet who bears and needs to be read as a whole, and then the 

volume and torrent of his power carry the disfigtirements along with it and 

away. He is really a fine Mlo-w."— Chambers's Journal, in a very long notice. 

THE EARTHWARD PILGRIMAGE. By Moncuee CoNWAt. 

Cr. 8vo, 400 pages, cloth,, neat, 7s, 6d. 
* ** This volume has excited considerable discussion, as it advances many entirely 
new views upon the life hereafter. The titles to some of the chapters will convey an 
idea of the contents of the work: — "How I left the world to come for that which is." 

John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 



MR. SWINBURNE'S 
A wonderful literary performance."- 



ESSAY. 

-" Splendour of style cmd 
majestic beauty of diction never surpassed." 

WILL/AM BLAKE: A Critical Essay. With facsimile 

Paintings, Coloured by Hand, from the Original Drawings painted 
by Blake and his Wife. Thick 8vo, pp. 350, i6s. 



"An extraordi- 
nary work : violent, 
extravagant, per- 
verse, calculated to 
startle, to shock, 
and to alarm many 
readers.butabound- 
ing in beauty, and 
characterized by in- 
tellectual grasp. . 
. . . His power 
of word-painting is 
often truly wonder- 
ful — sometimes, it 
must be admitted, in 
excess, but always 
full of matter, form, 
and colour, and 




instinct with a sense 
of vitality." — Daily 
News, Feb. 12, 1868. 
"It is in every 
way worthy of Mr. 
Swinburne's high 
fame. In no prose 
work can be found 
passages of keener 
poetry, or more 
finished grace, or 
more impressive 
harmony. Strong, 
vigorous, and mu- 
sical, the style 
sweeps on like a 
river."— TAc Sunday 
Times, Jan. 12, 1868. 



MR. SWINBURNE'S SONG OF ITALY, Fcap. 8vo, toned 

paper, cloth, price 3s. 6d. 



heard, so full of glow, strength, and colour. 



MR. SWINBURNE'S POEMS AND BALLADS. 

Edition. Price 9s. 



Fourth 



MR. SWINBURNE'S NOTES ON HIS POEMS, and on the 

Reviews which have appeared upon them. Price is. 

MR. SWINBURNE'S AT ALA NT A IN CALYDON. New Edi- 

tion. Fcap. 8vo, price 6s. 

MR. SWINBURNE'S CHASTELARD. A Tragedy. New 

Edition. Price 7s. 

MR. SWINBURNE'S QUEEN MOTHER AND ROS'aMOND, 

New Edition. Fcap. 8vo, price 5s. 



MR. SWINBURNE'S BOTHWELL 



A New Poem. 

[In prepoA-ation. 



John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London. 



Very Important New Books. 



enabled to afford most material and im- 
portant assistance to all interested in Genealogical Inquiries, 
difficult Pedigree ^esearclies, or in the comjpilation of Faraily 
Histories. He lias the following 

FAMILY HISTORIES FOR SALE :— 

F0R8TEB and FOSTER FAMILIES. 4to. lUustrations, 31s. 6d. 
BAIBD FAMILY. Eoyal 8vo. Facsimiles. los. 6d. 
CHICHESTER and RALEIGH FAMILIES. 4to. lUustrations, 21s. ; 

with Arms emblazoned, 31s. 6d. 
MILLAIS FAMILY. Witli Etchings by MiUais. 28s. 
WASHINGTON FAMILY. PrepaHng. 
COLE FAMILY. 

STUART FAMILY. 8vo, haK morocco. 8s. 6d. 
CHICHELE FAMILY. (Contains Pedigrees of many other FamiKes.) 

4to. 17s. 6d. 

ROLL OF CAERLAVEROCK, with the Arms of the Knights 

and others present at the Siege of the Castle in Scotland, A.D. 1300. 
Emblazoned in Gold and Colours, 4to, 12s. 

MAGI\IA CHARTA. Exact Facsimile of the Original Docu- 
ment in the British Museum. With Abms and Seals of the 
Barons emblazoned in Gold and Colours, a.d. 1215. 5s. 

*^* Copied by express permission, and the only correct drawing of the Great Charter 
ever taken. A full translation, with notes, price 6d. The Charter framed and 
glazed in carved oak, 22s. 6d. 

ROLL OF BATTLE ABBEY: A List of the Normans who 

"ume over with William, the Conqueror, and settled in this Country, 
*A.D. 1066-67. With Arms of the Barons emblazoned in Gold 
AND Colours. Price ss. 
*^* A most curious document, and of the greatest interest to all of Norman descent. 
Framed and glazed in carved Oak, 22s. 6d. 

WARRANT TO EXECUTE CHARLES I. Exact Facsimile, 

with the 59 Signatures of Eegicides, and Seals. Price 2s. ; by post, 

2S. 4(Z. 

*^* Very curious, and copied by express permission. In carved oak and glazed, 
14s. 6d. 

WARRANT TO EXECUTE MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. Exact 

Facsimile, with Signature of Queen EUzabeth, and Great Seal of 
England. Price 2s. ; by post, 2s. 4d. 
*** Very curious, and copied by express permission. In carved oak and 
148. 6d. 

John Camden Hotten, 74 and 7S1 Piccadilly, London 



Very Important New Books. 



HANDBOOK OF FAMILY HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH 

COUNTIES : Descriptive Account of 20,000 most Curious and Rare 
Books, Old Tracts, Ancient Manuscripts, Engravings, and Privately- 
printed Family Papers, relating to the History of almost every 
Landed Estate and Old English Family in the Country ; interspersed 
with nearly Two Thousand Original Anecdotes, Topographical and 
Antiquarian Notes. By John Camden Hotten. Nearly 350 
pages, very neat, price 5s. 

*** By far the largest collection of English and Welsh Topography and Family 
History ever formed. Each article has a small price affixed, for the convenience of 
those who may desire to possess any book or tract that interests them, 

CAXTON'S STATUTES OF HENRY VII., 1489. Edited by 

John Eae, Esq., Fellow of the Eoyal Institution. The Earliest 
known Volume of Printed Statutes, and remarkable as being in 
English. Marvellous Facsimile, from the rare original. Small 
folio, half morocco, ;^i us. 6d. 



THE BEST HANDBOOK of HERALDRY. 

Profusely Illustrated with Plates and 
Woodcuts. By John E. Cussans. In crown 
8vo, pp. 360, in emblazoned gold cover, 
with copious Index, 7s. 6d. 

*^* This volume, heaidifully printed on toned paper, 
contains not only the ordhiary matter to he found in 
the best books on the science of Armory, but several other 
subjects hitherto unnoticed. Amongst these may be men- 
tioned: — i. Directions for Tracing Fedigrees. 2. De- 
ciphering Ancient MSS., Illustrated by Alphabets and 
Facsimiles. 3. The Appointment of Liveries. 4. Con- 
tinental and American Seraldry, ^c. 

Best Guide to Beading Old MSS., Eecords, &c. 

WRIGHTS COURT HAND RE- 

STORED ; or, Student's Assistant in Bead- 
ing Old Deeds, Charters, Records, ^c. 
Half morocco, los. 6d. 
*:^* A Ifeio Edition, corrected, of an invaluable work to all who have occasion to 
consult Old MSS., Deeds, Charters, Sfc. It contains a series of Facsimiles of Old 
MSS. from the Time of the Conqueror, Tables of Contractions and Abbreviations, 
Ancient Surnames, <^c. 




LISTS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS AND RECUSANTS IN 

YORKSHIRE, temp. James I. (a.d. 1604). Edited, with Copious 
Genealogical Notes, by Edyp-ard Peacock, F.S.A. (Editor of "Army 
Lists of the Eoundheads and Cavaliers, 1642"). 4to, elegantly 
printed, 12s. 6d. 



John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, London, 



Very Important New Books. 



Hotten's "Golden Library" 

OF THE BEST AUTHORS. 

*** A charming collection of Standard, and Favourite Works, elegantly printed in 
Handy Volumes, uniform with the Tauchnitz Series, and published at exceedingly low 
'prices. The New Volumes are — 

ROCHEFOUCA ULD. —Reflections and Moral Maxims, i s. • 

cloth, IS. 6d. Essay by Sainte-Beuve. 



SHELLEY. 



HOLMES. 



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